ORIENTAL  LIFE 


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Oriental  Life 


<y 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  PAST  AND  CONTEMPORARY 
CONDITIONS  AND  PROGRESS  IN  ASIA,  EX- 
CEPTING CHINA.  INDIA  AND  JAPAN 


Edited  and  Arranged  by 

ETHLYN  T.  CLOUGH 


Published  by  the 

BAY    VIEW    READING    CLUB 

CENTRAL  OFFICE,  BOSTON  BOULEVARD 

DETROIT.  MICH. 

1910 


Copyrighted  1910 

BV 

JOHN  M.  HALL 


MAR  1     1955 


PREFACE 

WHILE  China,  Japan,  and  India  are  occupying 
more  of  the  attention  of  the  world  than  any 
other  of  the  Asiatic  countries,  a  study  of  that  vast 
continent  would  be  incomplete  without  some  knowledge 
of  those  borderlands  we  have  come  to  designate  as  the 
Near  East.  Besides,  this  knowledge  is  necessary  to 
those  who  desire  to  keep  abreast  of  the  forward  march 
of  the  nations. 

It  is  no  longer  sufficient  that  we  become  acquainted 
with  Our  Own  Country  and  its  advancement,  for  uni- 
versal brotherhood  is  making  its  demands  upon  us,  and 
America  is  playing  no  small  part  in  the  modernization 
of  the  East.  The  old  familiar  cry  that  has  rung  down 
the  centuries,  Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us, 
is  wafted  across  the  seas  to-day.  It  behooves  every 
Christian  nation  to  foster  and  aid  this  universal  desire 
for  the  "federation  of  the  world."  Once  the  patriotic 
ideal  was  all-sufficient ;  now  the  farther  we  remove 
ourselves  from  the  ideal  of  patriotism  to  merge  our- 
selves into  that  higher  ideal  of  universal  peace  and 
freedom,  the  better  it  will  be  for  us  as  individuals,  the 
better  will  it  be  for  us  as  a  nation. 

To  help,  we  must  understand ;  to  understand,  we 
must  know  something  of  the  life  and  customs  of  these 
peoples  who  are  struggling  to  free  themselves  from  the 
bondage  of  centuries  of  slavery  and  misrule — slavery 
to  destructive  customs  and  institutions;  misrule  under 

2986 
8724 9G 


4  PREFACE 

the  grasping-  and  oppressive  monarchs  of  conquering 
nations. 

The  regeneration  of  Turkey  and  Persia;  the  won- 
derful resources  of  Burma  and  Ceylon  being  devel- 
oped under  beneficent  British  rule,  are  themes  to-day 
of  world-wide  interest.  In  studying  the  civilizations 
of  Asia,  it  is  our  desire  that  Bay  View  students  famil- 
iarize themselves  with  some  of  the  salient  features  in 
the  life  of  these  lesser  countries  of  the  Orient ;  and, 
since  no  condensed  volume  of  information  is  to  be 
had,  we  have,  as  heretofore,  prepared  one  from  the 
best  and  latest  authorities.  This  work  by  no  means 
exhausts  the  subjects  handled,  but  it  gives  an  insight 
into  the  manners  and  customs  of  hitherto  practically 
unknown  peoples,  and  sets  forth  their  needs  and  their 
future  possibilities.  As  in  previous  volumes,  the  chap- 
ters have  been  gathered  from  reliable  sources,  and  a 
key-letter  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  refers  the  reader 
to  a  page  at  the  close  of  the  book  where  due  credit  is 
given.  These  chapters  are  not  all  of  them  presented 
just  as  the  writers  themselves  prepared  them.  Many 
of  them  have  been  corrected  from  recent  statistics  and 
brought  down  to  date ;  some  have  been  amplified,  and 
all  of  them  have  been  edited  and  connected  with  origi- 
nal paragraphs  to  bring  about  a  running  narrative. 
If  the  volume  proves  interesting  and  informing,  and 
inspires  the  desire  to  know  more  about  and  do  some- 
thing for  these  nations  knocking  at  the  door  of  West- 
ern Civilization,   its   mission   will  have  been  fulfilled. 

Ethlyn  T.  Clough. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I  page 

The  Iranians  and  Their  Country 14 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Royal  Family  and  Persian  Government    26 

CHAPTER  III 
Persia  under  a  Constitution 38 

CHAPTER  IV 
Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Persians 50 

CHAPTER  V 
Early  History  of  the  Ottomans 61 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Regeneration  of  Turkey 74 

CHAPTER  VII 

What    American    Education    Is    Doing    for 

Turkey 87 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Future  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 98 

CHAPTER  IX 

Arabia,  the  Center  of  the  Muslem  World.  .   109 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  X 

The  Arabs,  Their  Manners  and  Customs 120 

CHAPTER  XI 
The  Golden  Land  of  Burma 136 

CHAPTER  XII 
The  Development  of  Burma 146 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Land  of  Poetry  and  Romance 155 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Development  and  Resources  of  Ceylon.  .   169 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Hermit  Nation  and  Her  People 183 

CHAPTER  XVI 
A  Vanishing  Empire 195 


Oriental  Life 

INTRODUCTORY 

THE    OUTSKIRTS    OF    EMTIRE 

h  \  S  far  as  the  East  is  from  the  West,"  is  the 
.r\.  simile  that  the  Psalmist  used  in  likening  how 
far  from  the  repentant  transgressor  his  sins  might  be 
removed  from  him,  and  the  simile,  in  a  way,  would 
hold  good  to-day.  The  real  East,  its  people,  its  reli- 
gions, its  customs,  and  we  might  almost  say  its  geo- 
graphical position  and  physical  conditions,  are  known 
to  but  few.  A  mighty  gulf  separates  the  East  from 
the  West ;  the  busy  throbbing  centers  of  the  West  take 
little  note  of  the  things  that  do  not  lie  near  at  hand, 
and  the  call  of  the  East  comes  for  the  most  part  un- 
heeded across  the  waste.  One  of  the  chief  charms  to 
the  student  of  these  comparatively  unknown  lands  is 
that  subtle  something  that  forever  separates  the  Orien- 
tal from  the  Occidental.  It  is  not  so  much  that  they 
differ  from  us  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  life,  in 
religion,  education,  government,  in  the  clothes  we  wear, 
the  food  we  eat,  the  houses  we  live  in,  and  our  meth- 
ods of  work  and  play,  although  the  difference  in  these 
things  is  great,  but  there  is  something  deeper  even  than 
these  differences.     There  is  a  separation  in  life  and 

7 


8  ORIENTAL  LIFE— INTRODUCTORY 

spirit  that  does  not  permit  the  Oriental  or  the  Occi- 
dental to  understand  one  another  or  to  interpret  aright 
the  life  of  each  other.  One  who  has  lived  long  in  the 
East  has  said  that  none  of  us  know  these  people ;  that 
we  do  not  understand  their  purposes  nor  their  feelings, 
and  perhaps  Kipling  had  true  insight  into  the  problem 
when  he  sang — 

Oh,  East  is  East  and  West  is  West,  and  never  the  twain  shall 

meet 
Till  Earth  and  Sky  stand  presently  at  God's  great  Judgment 

Seat. 

We  used  to  think  of  the  East  as  those  classic  lands 
lying  just  across  the  border  of  Europe ;  the  lands  from 
which  we  had  our  religion  and  the  home  of  the  Moham- 
medan power.  India  was  the  far  background  for  these 
countries,  and  we  had  but  little  interest  in  her ;  while 
China  and  Japan  were  heathen  lands  for  missionaries 
to  Christianize.  To-day  we  have  the  Near  East  and 
the.  Far  East.  To  the  latter  belong  those  heretofore 
heathen  lands,  China,  Japan,  and  India ;  while  Persia, 
Turkey,  and  Arabia  are  but  the  outskirts  of  empire 
and  constitute  a  portion  of  the  Near  East.  It  is  to 
these  latter  countries  in  conjunction  with  Burma,  Cey- 
lon, and  Korea  that  we  shall  devote  these  few  brief 
chapters  on  Oriental  Life. 

A  great  deal  of  time  and  energy  has  been  given 
during  the  last  seventy-five  years  to  the  discovery  of 
the  East,  and  with  what  vast  results  is  well-known. 
Christian  missionaries  were  pioneers  in  the  movement. 
Theirs  was  the  entering  wedge  that  made  an  opening 


THE  OUTSKIRTS  OF  EMPIRE  9 

later  for  trade  and  diplomatic  relations,  until  the  high 
civilization  of  the  powerful  nations  of  the  West  came 
like  an  overwhelming  flood,  bringing  new  life  to  the 
East.  Bringing  better  methods  of  education,  better 
methods  of  business,  more  enlightened  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, and  purer  social  ethics.  We  are  quite  conver- 
sant with  the  transformation  these  things  have  worked 
in  China  and  Japan,  but  how  have  they  penetrated  and 
influenced  the  countries  we  are  considering? 

The  changes  have  not  been  so  perceptible,  or,  pos- 
sibly, we  have  been  so  engrossed  with  the  affairs  of  the 
Far  East  that  we  have  been  oblivious  to  the  important 
events  that  have  been  shaping  themselves  in  these  bor- 
derlands of  empire.  Very  few  understand  at  all  ade- 
quately what  a  change  has  taken  place  in  Turkey. 
In  1907,  within  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  and  with 
but  a  minimum  of  bloodshed,  Turkey  passed  from  the 
most  absolute  despotism  to  being  one  of  the  freest 
countries  in  the  world,  and  the  people  have  given  them- 
selves up  to  enjoying  their  newly  acquired  freedom  to 
the  utmost.  This  revolution  was  brought  about  by  the 
organization  known  as  the  Young  Turks,  and  wisely 
are  they  dealing  with  the  various  problems  that  have 
naturally  arisen.  Turkish  women  have  taken  a  large 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Young  Turks  by  preparing  the 
people  and  the  army  for  the  change,  and  now  they  arc 
demanding  their  share  in  the  progress  that  is  abroad 
in  the  land.  They  claim  for  themselves  all  that  they 
see  of  good  in  European  and  American  homes.  They 
ask  to  be  educated  so  that  they  can  train  their  children 


10  ORIENTAL  LIFE— INTRODUCTORY 

aright  and  make  the  homes  of  their  husbands  well- 
ordered  and  happy,  and  they  demand  admission  into 
useful  employment  for  women  as  in  other  lands. 

Persia  has  not  been  a  stranger  to  political  evolution 
for  some  time  past,  and  the  Constitution  granted  and 
the  Parliament  formed  in  1907  were  only  the  cumula^ 
tive  expression  of  the  evolution  that  had  been  long 
under  way  in  the  ancient  monarchy  of  the  Arcfae- 
menians  and  of  the  Sassanides.  England  and  Russia 
had  long  been  competing  for  political  and  commercial 
supremacy  in  Persia,  and  Russia  had  seemingly  won 
in  the  struggle.  By  the  Bagdad  Railway,  a  concession 
secured  from  the  Turkish  Government  in  1902,  and 
through  various  institutions  established  by  her  sub^ 
jects  in  Teheran,  Germany  gained  a  foothold  in  Persia. 
These  facts,  however,  did  not  modify  our  impression 
of  Persia  as  a  country  of  corrupt  and  brutal  satraps, 
where  offices  were  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  where 
men  and  women  were  sold  for  unpaid  taxes,  and  where 
the  bastinado  still  held  sway.  We  caught  a  glimpse 
now  and  then  in  the  columns  of  our  mission  papers  of 
the  religious  fermentation  going  on  in  Persia.  The 
American  missionaries  have  called  our  attention  to  the 
rapid  spread  of  Babbism  and  have  interpreted  the  latter 
as  a  drifting  of  the  Persian  masses  from  Mohammed- 
ism  toward  Christianity.  Intelligent  Persians,  how- 
ever, would  scarcely  accept  this  as  the  true  interpreta-1 
tion,  since  the  doctrines  of  that  sect  would  indicate  that 
Babbism  is  a  pantheism  permeated  by  gnostic  and  com- 
munistic  elements.     But   whatever   Babbism   may   be, 


THE  OUTSKIRTS  OF  EMPIRE  11 

we  should  accord  due  credit  to  the  American  and  Eng- 
lish mission  schools  for  their  valuable  contribution  to 
the  modernization  of  Persia.  The  new  elementary 
schools  are  modeled  after  the  American  schools. 

The  modernization  of  Arabia  is  not  so  apparent  as 
that  of  other  countries  in  the  Near  East,  perhaps  be- 
cause she  has  not  been  so  willing  to  partake  of  and 
assimilate  the  culture  of  the  West  that  has  flowed  to 
her  very  doors.  That  Arabia  is  the  stronghold  of 
Islamism  is,  too,  one  of  the  causes  of  her  failure  to 
keep  pace  with  the  forward  march  of  civilization.  We 
read  of  frequent  uprisings  of  the  Arabians  against  the 
Turks,  their  rulers,  and  occasionally  fortune  seems  to 
favor  their  arms,  but  it  is  doubtfui  if  ever  they  prevail 
against  the  stronger  nation,  for  the  unequipped  and 
ill-drilled  Arab  fanatics  can  hardly  make  a  stand  be- 
fore the  Turkish  army  with  its  well-drilled  soldiers  and 
its  Mauser  muskets  and  Krupp  guns.  Nevertheless, 
the  Arabs  will  never  submit  complacently  to  the  Turks, 
for  the  former  are  intensely  proud  of  their  nationality 
from  which  sprang  the  Prophet,  and  they  look  upon 
their  language  as  the  most  refined  of  tongues,  used 
by  even  the  angels  in  Heaven.  They  regard  the  Turk 
as  inferior  and  indebted  to  Arabian  civilization  for 
everything,  and  they  hate  and  despise  their  foreign 
ruler.  On  account  of  these  conditions  there  will  not  be 
much  of  modern  progress  to  study  in  Arabia,  but  many 
things  of  historical  interest  and  many  things  of  charm 
will  be  found  to  make  pleasant  and  profitable  the  study 
of  this  land  of  ancient  culture. 


12  ORIENTAL  LIFE— INTRODUCTORY 

In  Burma,  the  Cinderella  of  the  Indian  Provinces, 
we  will  find  many  changes  in  the  past  fifteen  years. 
Rapid  progress  has  been  made  along  industrial  lines, 
and  her  commerce  has  become  of  great  importance 
and  is  constantly  increasing.  The  mingling  of  the  old 
with  the  new  order  of  things  is  seen  here  as  perhaps 
nowhere  else.  We  invariably  associate  Burma  with 
India,  and  by  some  it  is  called  Far  India ;  but  it  was 
not  until  1886  that  she  was  annexed  as  a  whole  to  the 
Indian  Empire.  Since  then  she  has  developed  rapidly, 
and  how  she  has  done  this  is  a  most  interesting  story 
and  one  that  will  be  followed  with  eager  attention. 
Burma  has  her  own  local  government,  being  elevated 
to  a  Lieutenant  Governorship  in  1897.  The  story  of 
her  people,  her  rice-fields,  her  forests,  her  railways, 
her  ruby  mines,  her  religions,  reads  like  a  romance, 
and  it  is  little  wonder  that  she  came  long  ago  to 
be  called  the  marvelous  "Land  of  Gold." 

More  marvelous  still  than  Burma  is  the  Island  of 
Ceylon.  At  a  period  not  very  remote  Ceylon  was 
little  more  than  a  vague  image  of  poetry  or  romance. 
Now  it  has  become  an  important  reality  to  the  mer- 
chant, the  traveler,  and  the  student  of  ancient  civili- 
zation and  religion.  Those  who  have  had  the  most, 
extensive  experience  of  East  and  West  regard  Ceylon 
as  the  very  gem  of  the  earth.  The  economic  results 
due  to  its  situation  in  the  eastern  seas,  a  spot  on  which 
converge  the  steamships  of  all  nations  for  coal  and  for 
the  exchange  of  freight  and  passengers ;  its  wealth  and 
diversity  of  agricultural  and  mineral  products ;  the  in- 


THE  OUTSKIRTS  OF  EMPIRE  13 

dustry  of  its  inhabitants,  both  colonists  and  natives — 
these,  together  with  its  scenery  and  the  glamour  of  its 
unrivaled  remains  of  antiquity,  entitle  Ceylon  to  a 
place  of  high  distinction  among  the  dependencies  of 
the  empire. 

Last  of  all  in  this  brief  volume,  our  attention  will 
be  given  to  Korea,  so  full  of  interest  for  the  Christian 
world  as  the  center  of  the  great  missionary  efforts  in 
Asia.  Her  inhabitants  resemble  those  of  China  and 
Japan,  and  though  for  a  number  of  centuries  she  was 
a  dependency  of  China,  she  enjoyed  an  individual 
existence  under  rulers  of  her  own.  By  a  recent  treaty 
Korea  has  ceased  to  be  a  nation  and  has  become  a  part 
of  the  Japanese  empire.  Her  willingness  to  accept  the 
Christian  religion  and  her  great  aid  in  helping  to 
spread  this  religion  makes  her,  as  stated,  of  particular 
interest  to  the  Western  world,  and  it  is  some  of  these 
phases  of  her  life  that  we  shall  dwell  upon  more  par- 
ticularly. 

In  this  outline  of  what  we  shall  endeavor  to  develop 
in  the  following  chapters,  it  will  be  seen  how  much  of 
interest  there  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  these  prac- 
tically unknown  people  who  inhabit  the  borderland  of 
the  vast  eastern  empires.  The  main  object  of  this 
volume  is  not  so  much  to  deal  with  the  mysterious  past 
of  these  countries  as  to  give  an  idea  of  the  present 
conditions,  and  show  how  western  civilization  and  cul- 
ture is  influencing  and  changing  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms that  have  their  foundation  in  remote  ages. 


PERSIA 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   IRANIANS   AND   THEIR   COUNTRY 

OF  all  the  mighty  empires  that  have  flourished  in 
the  East,  that  of  Persia  is  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  and  the  most  celebrated.  Endur- 
ing through  a  succession  of  vicissitudes  almost  unpar- 
alleled for  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  years 
— by  turns  the  prey  of  foreign  enemies  and  the  sport 
of  internal  revolution,  yet  ever  subjected  to  despotic 
rule — alternately  elevated  to  the  summit  of  glory  and 
prosperity,  and  plunged  into  misery  and  degradation, 
— she  has,  from  the  earliest  period  of  her  existence, 
either  been  the  throne  of  the  lords  of  Western  Asia 
or  the  arena  on  which  monarchs  have  disputed  for  the 
scepter  of  the  East.  Poor  and  comparatively  limited 
in  extent,  the  more  warlike  of  her  sovereigns  enriched 
themselves  and  enlarged  their  dominions  by  the  most 
brilliant  conquests ;  while  under  timid  and  peaceful 
princes  not  only  did  her  acquisitions  crumble  away, 
but  her  own  provinces  were  frequently  subdued  by 
bolder  and  more  rapacious  neighbors.  Thus  her  boun- 
daries were  continually  fluctuating  with  the  characters 
of  her  monarchs.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  write  the 
history  of  the  great  Persian  empire,  but  to  place  before 

14 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY       15 

our  readers  a  description  of  some  of  its  most  remark- 
able features.  To-day  this  kingdom  occupies  the  coun- 
try within  the  boundaries  of  Russia  and  the  Caspian 
Sea  on  the  north ;  Afghanistan  and  Beloochistan  on 
the  east ;  the  Arabian  Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf  on 
the  South,  and  the  Turkish  Empire  and  Mount  Ararat 
on  the  west.  Its  territory  extends  nine  hundred  miles 
east  and  west  and  seven  hundred  miles  from  north  to 
south,  and  embraces  an  area  of  about  six  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  thousand  square  miles.  It  is  divided  into 
thirteen  provinces,  viz.,  Ghilan,  Mazanderan,  Astrabad, 
Ardelan,  Kauzistan,  Pars,  Laristan,  Kerman,  Irak, 
Azirbijan,   Mekran,   Seistan,   Kharasan. 

In  physical  contour,  Persia  consists  of  an  extensive 
central  plateau,  occupying  at  least  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  surface ;  a  series  of  mountain  chains  encircling 
the  plateau  on  all  sides  except  the  east,  and  an  outer 
border  consisting  of  gentle  slopes,  low  valleys,  and 
level  plains.  The  eastern  part  of  the  plateau  forms 
the  great  deserts  of  Khorasan  and  Kerman,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  desolate  regions  of  the  globe.  Although 
the  plateau  is  for  the  most  part  barren  and  incapable 
of  cultivation,  along  the  bases  of  the  mountains  and 
extending  into  the  plains  below  are  tracts  of  great 
fertility  where  a  rich,  varied,  and  magnificent  vegeta- 
tion is  found. 

The  fertile  and  well-watered  plains  of  Persia  that 
form  the  outer  border  of  the  kingdom  produce  in  great 
abundance  different  kinds  of  grain,  such  as  wheat, 
rice,  barley,   millet,  and  maize.      In   Southern   Persia 


16  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

sugar  corn  is  grown,  also  cotton,  silk,  tobacco,  and 
opium.  Ten  million  pounds  of  cotton,  eight  million' 
pounds  of  wool,  and  over  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
opium  are  annually  exported.  Of  the  fruits  there  are 
such  as  grapes,  apricots,  pears,  peaches,  almonds,  ap- 
ples, pomegranates,  oranges,  lemons,  melons,  dates, 
figs,  cherries,  plums,  nuts  of  all  kinds,  garden  vegeta- 
bles and  herbs  of  every  known  variety.  Flowers,  both 
cultivated  and  wild,  flourish  in  beauty  and  great  vari- 
ety, and  the  great  forests  that  fringe  the  Caspian  Sea 
are  vocal  with  a  variety  of  those  singing  birds  common 
to  Europe,  including  the  nightingale,  which  delights 
the  ear  with  its  evening  song  from  the  thickets  of 
roses  that  embellish  every  Persian  garden. 

The  mineral  resources  of  Persia  consist  of  iron, 
lead,  copper,  mercury,  arsenic,  sulphur,  asbestos,  mica, 
coal,  and  manganese.  Gold  dust  is  also  found  in  the 
Jungari  River,  and  near  Rushire  in  the  Naptha 
Springs.  The  pearl  fisheries  in  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
the  turquois  mines  in  Korassan  are  the  richest  in  the 
world. 

The  climate  of  Persia  is  made  up  of  various  varie- 
ties. In  the  north,  around  the  Caspian  Sea,  it  is  quite 
cold,  and  in  the  south,  around  the  Persian  Gulf,  it  is 
very  hot.  "My  father's  kingdom,''  says  the  younger 
Cyrus  to  Xenophon,  "is  so  large  that  people  perish 
with  cold  at  one  extremity  while  they  are  suffocated 
with  heat  at  the  other," — a  description  the  truth  of 
which  can  be  attested  by  tourists  who  have  floundered 
in  the  snows  of  the  northern  provinces  and  in  a  month's 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY       17 

time  have  gasped  for  breath  on  the  sands  of  Dushtis- 
tan.  On  the  south  side  of  the  northern  mountain 
ranges  the  snow  commences  to  fall  early  in  November, 
and  up  to  the  middle  of  March  ice  is  seen  at  Teheran. 
Cold  winds  prevail  in  April,  and  even  during  summer 
great  and  sudden  changes  of  temperature  are  not  un- 
common. On  the  north  side  of  the  mountains,  in  the 
plains  of  Ghilan  and  Mazanderan,  the  climate  is  like 
that  of  a  tropical  region,  in  which  a  dry  and  a  rainy 
season  regularly  alternate,  and  vegetation  has  a  lux- 
uriance not  often  met  with  even  in  lower  latitudes. 
At  the  center  plateau  it  is  very  good,  and  is  pronounced 
to  be  remarkably  above  that  of  all  other  countries  for 
its  purity  and  dryness. 

Persia  is  rich  in  the  remembrances  of  Bible  history. 
Tradition  tells  us  that  it  was  first  settled  by  Elm,  son 
of  Shem,  who  was  the  son  of  Noah.  It  is  supposed 
that  Cherdorloomor,  who  lived  at  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham, was  one  of  the  early  kings.  Here  we  have  the 
tomb  of  Daniel  the  Prophet,  and  other  prominent  men 
of  ancient  times.  Here  also  are  the  sepulchers  of 
Mordecai  and  Queen  Esther. 

Five  hundred  years  before  Christ  the  fire-worship- 
ers established  their  religion,  which  resulted  finally  in 
Zoroastrianism,  and  the  ashes  of  their  sacred  fires, 
burning  for  centuries,  have  left  many  hills.  Six  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  after  Christ  the  Mohammedan  and 
Arab  tribe  came  and  abolished  Zoroastrianism.  They 
taught  then,  as  they  still  teach,  that  there  is  but  one 
God,  creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  Mohammed  is 


18  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

His  prophet.  At  the  point  of  the  sword  the  people  of 
Persia  gave  up  their  own  religion  and  embraced  that 
of  the  Arabs ;  a  remnant  of  them  who  were  faithful 
going  over  into  India  to  continue  their  chosen  worship, 
and  a  few  in  Persia  keeping  it  up  in  secret,  so  that  it 
has  never  entirely  died  out.  In  the  reign  of  Cyrus 
the  Great  the  inhabitants  of  Persia  numbered  about 
eighty  millions.  At  present  they  are  estimated  at  about 
ten  millions,  made  up  of  the  following  nationalities 
and  sects:  Zoroastrians,  15,000;  Jews,  15,000;  Nes- 
torians,  25,000;  Armenians,  50,000.  The  remainder 
are  all  Mohammedans,  consisting  of  Kurds,  Arabs,  and 
Persians. 

The  chief  cities  of  Persia  are  Teheran,  the  capital ; 
Tabreez,  Mishid,  Ispahan,  Yezd,  Kermansha,  Hama- 
don,  Urmia,  Burfrush,  and  Kashan.  Also  in  Persia 
there  are  many  interesting  ruins  of  ancient  populous 
and  celebrated  cities — for  example,  Persepolis,  Shapur, 
Istakhar,  Shushan,  Homadan,  etc.  The  monuments 
and  inscriptions  found  at  some  of  these  places  form  a 
highly  interesting  study. 

Up  to  1907,  the  government  of  Persia  consisted  of 
r  pure  despotism,  the  King  possessing  absolute  author- 
ity over  the  lives  and  property  of  the  people.  In  1907, 
the  King,  or  Shah  as  he  is  called,  granted  the  people 
a  constitution,  but  already  they  are  tired  of  it  and  are 
begging  him  to  take  it  back.  This  has  not  been  done 
as  yet,  but  with  the  help  of  his  ministers  the  young 
King  has  somewhat  modified  the  constitution  recently. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  King  to  appoint  governors  to  each 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY       19 

of  the  States  we  have  previously  mentioned.  The 
standing  army  consists  of  two  hundred  thousand  men,, 
of  which  only  fifty  thousand  are  well-disciplined  in- 
fantry, ten  thousand  artillery,  ten  thousand  irregular 
cavalry,  and  a  few  thousand  irregular  infantry  and 
guards.  The  officers  in  the  army  are,  for  the  most 
part,  ignorant  and  inefficient,  while  the  soldiers  are 
intelligent,  sober,  obedient,  and  capable  of  enduring 
great  fatigue. 

The  trade  of  Persia  is  nearly  all  with  Europe. 
There  are  no  railroads  nor  wagon  roads.  The  means 
of  travel  is  by  foot  or  horseback,  on  narrow  footpaths. 
Instead  of  express,  they  have  burdens  carried  on  the 
backs  of  camels,  horses,  mules,  donkeys,  or  oxen.  Cara- 
vans of  camels  perform  the  greater  part  of  their  jour- 
neys bv  night.  Each  caravan  is  composed  of  from 
one  hundred  to  two  hundred  camels.  These  are  under 
only  a  few  leaders,  for  camels  are  very  gentle.  During 
nights  while  at  rest  the  camels  are  let  loose.  Thieves 
do  not  steal  them  and  wild  beasts  can  hardly  eat  them ; 
occasionally,  however,  thieves  cut  the  straps  that  bind 
the  burdens  to  the  camels,  roll  them  down  chasms,  and 
afterwards  secure  the  plunder.  The  marching  caravan 
is  like  the  marching  of  an  army,  so  much  tinkling  of 
bells.  When  thieves  attack  a  camel,  the  bells  cease 
tinkling  and  the  owner  knows  that  something  is  hap- 
pening. The  caravans  exchange  the  products  of  Persia 
for  muslin,  leather,  skins,  nankeen,  china,  glass,  hard- 
ware, dye  stuffs,  and  spices.  The  great  part  of  the 
commerce  of  Persia  centers  at  Tabreez,  to  which  place 


20  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

are  conveyed  all  the  products  of  East  Persia,  Turkis- 
tan,  Cabul,  Beloochistan,  and  India.  European  goods 
are  brought  to  Tabreez  by  way  of  Constantinople  and 
Trebizond. 

The  foregoing  gives  some  idea  of  present  condi- 
tions in  Persia,  and  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  give 
briefly  some  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  history  of  the 
ancient  kingdom.  According  to  the  description  of 
Persian  geographers,  when  their  country  was  in  its 
greatest  glory,  its  territory  comprehended  four  seas — 
the  Caspian  Sea,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Red  Sea,  and  the 
Persian  Gulf— and  six  great  rivers— the  Euphrates, 
Tigris,  Araxes,  Phasis,  Oxus,  and  Indus.  Passing 
over  a  series  of  fabulous  dynasties,  we  arrive  at  that 
of  the  Achemenides,  or  Kaianians,  which  commenced 
about  720  b.  c,  and  furnishes  the  first  records  which 
can  be  considered  authentic.  Shortly  after  this  period, 
Persia  appears  to  have  been  merely  a  province  of  the 
Assyrian  empire,  on  the  disruption  of  which  it  fell  un- 
der the  power  of  the  Medes,  709  B.C.  Dejoce,  the 
founder  of  the  Median  monarchy,  was  followed  at 
some  distance  by  Cyaxares,  whose  successor  was  As- 
tvages.  With  his  dethronement,  560  b.  c,  the  Median 
dynasty  terminated,  and  the  true  founder  of  the  Per- 
sian monarchy,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  charac- 
ters of  ancient  times,  appears  upon  the  stage.  Cyrus 
the  Great  having  established  his  ascendancy  over  the 
Medes,  carried  his  victorious  arms  into  the  West,  over- 
threw Croesus,  King  of  Lydia,  and  fulfilling  a  series 
of  remarkable  Scripture  prophesies  by  the  conquest  of 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY      21 

Babvlon  and  its  dependencies,  extended  his  empire  to 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  An  expedition 
against  the  Scythians  proved  fatal  to  him,  529  b.  c, 
and  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cambyses,  the  most 
important  event  of  whose  reign  was  his  conquest  of 
Egypt.  On  his  death,  an  impostor,  pretending  to  be 
his  brother  Smerdis,  claimed  the  throne  ;  but  shortly 
after,  on  discovery  of  the  fraud,  was  slain  by  the  no- 
bles, who  then  gave  the  crown  to  one  of  their  own 
number  called  Darius  Hystaspes ;  who  pushed  his  con- 
quests into  the  East  as  far  as  the  Indus.  In  the  West 
the  lands  of  Asia  proved  too  narrow  for  his  ambitions, 
and  he  passed  over  into  Europe.  Here,  after  making 
-various  conquests,  he  encountered  the  Greeks,  by  whom 
he  was  defeated  on  the  field  of  Marathon.  His  suc- 
cessor, Xerxes,  having  marched  toward  Greece  at  the 
head  of  the  most  gigantic  armament  which  the  world 
has  yet  beheld,  first  at  Salamis  and  then  at  Platsea,  met 
with  even  greater  disasters  than  those  which  had  be- 
fallen his  predecessors,  and  with  difficulty  saved  his 
life  by  almost  solitary  flight  across  the  Hellespont. 
Greece  now  assumed  the  offensive,  and  after  many 
years  of  struggle,  almost  always  disastrous  to  Persia, 
a  new  conqueror  appeared  in  Alexander  the  Great,  and 
completed  her  downfall.  The  Macedonian  empire  was 
soon  broken  up  by  the  death  of  its  founder,  and  Persia, 
become  only  one  of  its  many  fragments,  was  long 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  among  contending  competi- 
tors. About  174  is.  c,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Parthians,   and   was   ruled   by    Mithridates    I.,   under 


22  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

whom  the  Parthian  power  extended  from  the  Indus  to 
the  Euphrates.  Rome  was  now  in  her  full  career  of 
conquest,  and  Parthia  was  well  fitted  both  to  tempt  her 
ambition  and  try  her  prowess.  The  first  direct  inter- 
course between  them  took  place  93  b.  c,  when  Mithri- 
dates  II.  sent  an  embassy  to  Sylla.  In  less  than  forty 
years  after,  war  between  them  had  commenced,  and 
though  by  no  means  always  to  the  advantage  of  the 
mistress  of  the  world,  the  greater  part  of  Persia  was 
ultimately  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Roman  empire.  Strug- 
gles for  independence,  however,  continued  to  be  almost 
incessantly  made  in  the  times  both  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  emperors,  and  Persia  produced  several  native 
princes  whose  fame  as  warriors  or  improvers  of  their 
country  is  still  held  in  lively  remembrance.  They  be- 
long to  what  is  called  the  Sassanian  dynasty,  which 
commenced  as  early  as  226  a.  d.,  and  continued,  though 
under  circumstances  of  more  or  less  depression,  till 
531,  when  it  succeeded  in  surmounting  all  obstacles, 
and  attained  its  highest  prosperity  under  the  celebrated 
Khosru-Nusherwan,  who  swayed  the  scepter  over 
realms  scarcely  less  extensive  than  those  which  Persia 
possessed  in  the  time  of  Xerxes.  At  a  later  period 
(590-628),  another  Khosru,  distinguished  by  the  name 
of  Khosru-Perwiz,  after  commencing  his  reign  by  a 
series  of  brilliant  and  extensive  conquests,  sustained  a 
number  of  most  disastrous  reverses,  and  at  last  per- 
ished by  the  hand  of  his  own  son.  The  patricide  was 
not  long  permitted  to  benefit  by  his  crime ;  death  over- 
took him  six  months  after ;  and  during  the  confusion 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY       23 

which  ensued  a  new  party,  destined  to  change  the  face 
of  Persia  and  greater  part  of  the  East,  appeared.  Tlv. 
Arabs  had  now  commenced  their  career  of  Moham- 
medan conquest,  and  by  the  decisive  battles  of  Cadesia 
(636  a.  d.)  and  Nehavend  (641  a.  d.)  extinguished 
the  Sassanian  dynasty,  and  substituted  that  of  the 
Califs;  during  whose  ascendancy,  for  the  two  subse- 
quent centuries,  the  history  of  Persia  becoming 
blended  with  that  of  Arabia  and  the  other  realms  sub- 
ject to  these  potentates,  ceases  to  be  national.  This 
long  period,  however,  did  not  pass  away  without  va^i. 
changes,  among  which  the  most  astonishing  was  the 
extirpation  of  the  ancient  religion  and  the  adoption  of 
Mohammedanism.  About  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury  the  spirit  of  independence  revived  and  a  new  dy- 
nasty  arose  in  the  person  of  Yakub  Ibu  Lais,  who 
threw  off  allegiance  to  the  Caliph,  and  reigned  sov- 
ereign at  Shiraz  over  territories  nearly  identical  with 
modern  Persia.  It  is  impossible  here  to  follow  in  detail 
the  numerous  changes  which  have  subsequently  taken 
place.  In  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  the 
Seljookian  Turks  made  their  descent  from  Central 
Asia,  and  succeeded  in  placing  their  Sultan,  Togral- 
Beg,  on  the  Persian  throne.  His  successors  retained 
possession  till  the  last  of  the  line  was  slain  in  1194  by 
the  Shah  of  Kharism,  who  had  scarcely  established  a 
Kharismian  dynasty,  when  the  famous  Genghis  Khan 
made  his  appearance  at  the  head  of  seven  hundred 
thousand  Moguls,  and  crushing  all  opposition,  ruled 
Persia  with  a  rod  of  iron.     The   Mogul  ascendancy 


24  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

was  maintained  after  his  death  in  1258,  first  by  his 
immediate  descendants,  and  afterwards  by  the  heredi- 
tary nobles,  who,  throwing  off  allegiance  to  a  com- 
mon head,  divided  the  country  into  a  number  of  sepa- 
rate and  hostile  independencies.  This  state  of  affairs 
was  suddenly  terminated  in  1381,  by  the  invasion  of 
Tamerlane  and  his  Tartars,  who  spread  devastation 
wherever  they  appeared.  All  Persia  was  completely 
at  his  feet,  when  he  was  carried  off  by  death  in  1404. 
The  anarchy  of  petty  independencies  again  returned, 
but  was  finally  suppressed  in  1502  by  Ismail  Shah, 
who  partly  by  valor  and  partly  by  the  reputed  sanctity 
or  his  race  as  descended  from  Mohammed,  worked 
his  way  to  the  Persian  throne,  and  founded  the  Sefi,  or 
Soofee  dynasty,  which  reached  its  greatest  prosperity 
during  the  reign  of  Abbas  the  Great  (a.  d.  1586-1627). 
This  prosperity  faded  away  during  the  feeble  reigns 
which  succeeded,  and  in  1723  a  successful  revolt  of  the 
Afghans,  followed  by  a  series  of  victories,  enabled 
them  to  place  the  Persian  crown  on  the  head  of  their 
chief,  Meer-Mohamad.  The  Afghan  ascendancy  soon 
yielded  to  the  prowess  of  the  celebrated  general,  Nadir- 
Kooli,  who,  after  fighting  professedly  in  defense  of 
the  Soofeean  dynasty,  declared  it  at  an  end,  and  form- 
ally assuming  the  sovereignty  which  he  had  long  vir- 
tually possessed,  began  to  reign  in  1736,  under  the 
title  of  Nadir-Shah.  His  extraordinary  talents  raised 
Persia  to  a  remarkable  degree  of  power  and  influence- 
One  of  his  most  memorable  exploits  was  the  invasion 
of  India  in  1739,  when  he  took  Delhi  and  obtained 


THE  IRANIANS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY       25 

booty  which  has  been  valued  at  above  $150,000,000. 
His  greater  qualities  were  counterbalanced  by  cruelty 
and  avarice,  and  he  was  assassinated  in  1747.  A  period 
of  confusion  succeeded,  and  was  not  terminated  until 
1795,  when  Aga-Mahomad-Khan-Kajar,  of  Turcoman 
origin,  ascended  the  throne  and  became  the  founder  of 
the  Kajar  dynasty.  The  very  common  fate  of  Persian 
sovereigns  awaited  him,  and  in  1797,  before  he  had 
reigned  two  years,  he  was  murdered  by  his  attendants. 
His  nephew,  Rabak-Khan,  succeeded  him  under  the 
name  of  Feth-Ali-Shah.  The  most  remarkable  events 
of  his  reign  were  two  disastrous  wars  with  Russia, 
the  one  ending  in  1813,  with  the  loss  of  extensive  ter- 
ritories along  the  Caspian  ;  and  the  other  in  1828,  with 
the  loss  of  Erivan  and  all  the  country  north  of  Araxes. 
In  1833  he  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  Mahom- 
med  Mirza.a 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   ROYAL    FAMILY    AND    PERSIAN    GOVERNMENT 

FN  order  to  better  understand  the  present  royal  fam- 
-■-  ily  of  Persia,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a  few  facts 
from  the  life  of  the  Shah  Nasredden,  the  grandfather 
of  the  lately  deposed  Shah  or  Emperor  of  Persia.  The 
Shah  Nasredden  was  the  fourth  king  of  the  Kajar 
dynasty.  He  was  the  son  of  Shah  Mohammad  and  the 
great-grandson  of  Fattaly  Shah,  the  founder  of  the 
present  dynasty.  In  appearance  Fattaly  Shah  was  a 
man  of  fine  physique  and  very  proud  of  his  broad 
shoulders  and  long  black  beard  reaching  to  his  waist. 
To  him  Teheran  is  indebted  for  many  of  her  fine  build- 
ings, and  bas-reliefs  of  him  may  be  seen  sculptured  on 
rocks  all  around  the  city.  Fattaly  Shah  is  one  of  the 
most  noted  kings  of  Persia,  and  was  the  first  one  to  be 
called  King  of  Kings.  Fattaly  had  several  sons,  one 
of  whom,  Abbas  Mirza,  was  chosen  as  Crown  Prince. 
This  prince  died  in  early  manhood.  He  left  a  son, 
Mohammad  by  name,  who  afterward  became  king. 
After  Mohammad,  the  Nasredden  Shah  ascended  the 
throne,  in  the  year  1848,  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
Nasredden  was  a  good  king.  He  did  more  for  Persia 
than  any  ruler  during  the  past  eight  hundred  years. 
He  visited  the  European  courts  at  three  different  times 
and  he  holds  an  honorable  place  among  the  rulers  of 

26 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AND  GOVERNMENT  27 

the  world.  The  two  most  important  improvements 
introduced  by  him  into  his  country  were  the  construc- 
tion of  the  telegraph  lines  in  the  year  1869  and  the 
establishment  of  a  postal  service  in  1877.  The  last 
important  service  he  rendered  his  country  was  the 
founding  of  a  university  called  Darinal-f  union,  or 
place  of  science,  at  the  capital  city,  Teheran.  On 
the  first  of  May,  1896,  the  Shah  Nasredden,  having 
just  gone  through  with  the  forms  of  religious  worship 
in  a  Mohammedan  shrine,  was  shot  as  he  was  coming 
out  of  the  door  and  died  from  the  wounds  of  the 
assassin's  bullet  within  five  hours.  His  murderer 
was  one  of  his  subjects,  Mirza  Riza  of  Kerman, 
who  belonged  to  the  new  peculiar  sect  of  Babbists  that 
is  found  in  Persia,  and  that  differs  from  the  Moham- 
medan religion. 

The  Shah  Nasredden  was  succeeded  by  his  second 
son,  Muzaffer-ed-din,  which,  translated,  means  the 
Victorious  of  the  Faith.  When,  in  1896,  after  the 
assassination  of  his  father  he  ascended  the  celebrated 
"Peacock  Throne"  and  put  on  his  head  the  richest 
diadem  in  the  world,  he  was  forty-three  years  of  age. 
Prior  to  his  ascension  he  was  titular  Governor  of  Azer- 
baijan. The  Persian  vali-ahd,  or  heir  apparent,  always 
becomes  governor  of  this  province,  which  is  the  most 
important  in  Persia,  as  Tabreez,  its  capital,  is,  next  to 
Teheran,  the  most  important  town. 

Although  a  good  Mohammedan,  he  at  once  made 
it  apparent  that  the  mullahs  or  priests  would  no  more 
be  allowed  to  influence  his  administration  than  they 


28  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

had  that  of  his  father,  who  fell  a  victim  to  the  fanati- 
cism of  one  of  them.  His  mind  was  set  upon  develop- 
ing his  native  country  along  the  lines  of  Western 
progress.  He  was  keenly  alive  to  the  advantages  of 
the  telegraph  wire  as  a  means  of  keeping  himself  fully 
informed  at  all  times  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  the 
remotest  parts  of  his  dominions,  for  the  telegraph  had 
brought  about  a  consolidation  of  the  provinces  un- 
known at  any  previous  time  in  Persian  history. 

He  was  a  profound  student  of  philosophy,  and,  be- 
sides being  versed  in  the  rich  lore  and  wisdom  of  Per- 
sia, was  familiar  with  the  teachings  of  Aristotle  and 
Plato,  and  with  the  works  of  Bacon  and  Kant.  He  was 
also  a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts.  He  spoke  Arabic, 
Turkish,  and  French  with  great  fluency,  and  could 
also  converse  in  English.  He  had  his  daughters  as 
well  as  his  sons  taught  French  by  a  French  lieutenant 
of  artillery.  This  caused,  a  great  scandal  at  the  time  in 
Tabreez,  but  he  disregarded  the  general  indignation, 
and  when  his  daughters  grew  older  engaged  a  French- 
woman, Mme.  Limosin,  as  their  governess.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  other  accomplishments,  Muzaffer-ed-din  was 
a  crack  shot  and  a  splendid  horseman.  As  a  mighty 
hunter  he  was  famed  far  beyond  the  borders  of  his 
dominions. 

Not  a  little  of  his  father's  enlightenment  was  ac- 
quired from  three  visits  to  Europe,  he  having  been  the 
first  Persian  ruler  to  visit  the  Occident.  Muzaffer-ed- 
din  in  turn  also  visited  the  chief  capitals  of  Europe, 
and  in  August,  1900,  while  a  guest  of  the  French  na- 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AND  GOVERNMENT     29 

tion  in  Paris,  an  attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  him. 
He  was  driving  in  the  Avenue  du  Bois  de  Boulogne 
with  Amin  Sultan,  his  Grand  Vizier,  Dr.  Adcock,  his 
physician,  and  General  Parent,  when  a  man  sprang  on 
the  steps  of  the  carriage  and  tried  to  shoot  him,  but 
was  prevented  by  the  Grand  Vizier,  who  grasped  the 
man's  wrist  with  such  a  powerful  grip  that  the  would- 
be  murderer  dropped  the  revolver. 

The  Shah's  reign  was  clouded  by  a  malady  which 
would  not  yield  to  medical  treatment,  and  during  his 
visit  to  England  he  was  suffering  such  pain  that,  in 
spite  of  the  extravagant  plans  which  had  been  made 
for  his  entertainment,  he  was  seen  to  smile  but  once 
during  his  stay. 

The  Shah's  household  made  him  a  unique  figure 
in  the  twentieth  century.  He  was  said  to  have  eight 
hundred  wives.  Every  year  one  hundred  of  the  most 
beautiful  maidens  in  the  country  were  brought  before 
the  Shah.  He  selected  the  twenty-five  who  were  the 
most  beautiful  to  him. 

Muzaffer-ed-din's  wealth  was  reputed  to  be  $200,- 
000,000.  His  jewels  are  said  to  be  worth  $20,000,000. 
The  crown  itself,  surmounted  by  a  great  flawless  ruby 
as  large  as  a  hen's  eg^,  is  valued  at  several  millions. 
Two  gem-studded  swords  with  their  scabbards  were 
said  to  have  cost  $1,000,000  each. 

On  January  19,  1907.  Muzaffer-ed-din  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  second  son,  Mohammad-Ali- 
Mirza,  born  on  June  21,  1872,  and  who  in  accordance 
with  custom   was  acting  as  Governor  of  Azerbaijan. 


30  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

He  is  said  to  be  a  broad-minded  man,  in  entire  sym- 
pathy with  his  father's  ideas.  He  was  educated  in 
England,  and  has  the  courteous  manners  of  his  father. 
Among  the  grand  titles  that  as  ruler  of  Persia  he  as- 
sumes are  Shah-in-Shah,  meaning  King  of  Kings, 
which  is  an  inheritance  from  an  antiquity  older  than 
the  Old  Testament ;  Zil  Allah,  Shadow  of  God ;  the 
Kiblch  Alum,  center  of  the  world;  the  Exalted  One 
Exalted  as  the  Planet  Saturn ;  the  Well  of  Knowledge, 
the  King  Whose  Standard  Is  the  Sun,  and  Whose 
Splendor  Is  That  of  the  Firmament. 

In  July,  1909,  Mohammed  Ali  abdicated  his  throne 
and  took  refuge  in  the  Russian  Legation,  that  the  an- 
cient realm  of  Persia  might  become  a  truly  Constitu- 
tional country.  On  July  16,  the  monarch  was  formally 
dethroned  and  the  Crown  Prince,  Ahmed  Mirza,  was 
proclaimed  Shah  by  the  National  Assembly  at  Teheran. 
The  young  Shah  was  only  in  his  twelfth  year  at  the 
time,  and  it  is  said  that  he  wept  bitterly  when  the 
moment  came  for  him  to  leave  his  predecessor  on  the 
throne  and  his  mother,  and  it  required  a  stern  message 
to  the  effect  that  crying  was  not  allowed  in  the  Russian 
Legation  before  he  dried  his  eyes. 

The  royal  palace  is  surrounded  by  high  stone  walls. 
The  grounds  are  entered  by  four  beautiful  gates.  The 
walls  at  the  sides  and  above  the  gates  are  adorned 
with  the  pictures  of  former  kings  and  grave  generals ; 
also  decorative  carvings  of  lions,  the  standard  of 
Persia,  and  of  birds.  The  grounds  are  beautifully 
arranged,  all  the  roads  leading  to  the  King's  palace 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AXD  GOVERNMENT  31 

in  the  center,  and  beautified  with  ornamental  trees  and 
hedges  of  roses  of  various  hues.  Guarding  the  en- 
trances to  the  gates  and  the  roadways  that  lead  to  the 
palace  doors  are  numerous  officers  of  superior  rank, 
those  nearest  the  palace  ever  standing  with  drawn 
swords.  In  this  palace  are  stored  the  treasures  of 
Persia,  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  jewels.  The 
famous  peacock  throne  is  stored  here.  In  the  old  days 
it  was  the  pride  of  the  rulers  of  Delhi,  and  experts  say 
the  massive  solid  gold  structure  which  blazes  with 
diamonds  is  worth  a  million.  There  are  fifty  gold 
chairs  in  the  palace. 

There  are  cases  filled  to  the  brim  with  diamonds. 
There  are  also  vases  of  pearls  so  deep  that  one  can 
plunge  his  arm  to  the  elbow  in  the  jewels.  Here,  too, 
is  the  wonderful  globe  of  solid  gold  set  with  fifty 
thousand  diamonds,  emeralds,  and  amethysts.  Up  to 
the  present  time  it  has  always  been  customary  for  the 
Shah  to  show  himself  in  public  only  once  a  year,  and 
the  Shah  and  his  cabinet,  composed  of  six  officers, 
made  all  the  laws  and  executed  all  judgment,  the  peo- 
ple having  no  voice  in  the  government.  This  is  all 
changed  now ;  the  Shah  appears  in  public  as  often  as 
he  wishes,  since  the  people  have  been  granted  a  con- 
stitution. The  people  of  Persia  now  have  the  same 
liberty  as  the  people  of  other  constitutional  monarchies. 
AYhen  the  Shah  tires  of  the  routine  of  government, 
his  secretary  reads  to  him  from  Shah-nameh,  a  poetical 
history  of  Persian  kings.  It  is  one  of  the  king's  duties 
to  become  very  familiar  with  the  history  of  Persia  and 


s 


32  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

her  former  rulers.  When  the  king  retires  to  his  private 
room  at  night,  the  entrance  to  the  room  is  guarded  by 
two  of  the  most  trusted  officials  with  drawn  swords. 
One  of  the  four  gates  in  the  walls  around  the  palace 
is  called  the  King's  Gate,  as  he  always  enters  through 
it.  No  other  person,  be  he  lord,  count,  or  high  offi- 
cial, is  permitted  to  pass  through  this  gate  on  horse- 
back or  in  a  carriage.  He  must  dismount  and  walk 
through. 

When  the  King  goes  from  the  palace  for  a  hunt  or 
a  vacation,  he  is  escorted  out  of  the  city  by  a  large 
guard.  First,  coming  down  the  street  will  be  seen 
about  thirty  soldiers  of  the  infantry,  bearing  each  a 
golden  club  and  shouting :  "  Get  out !  Get  out ! " 
Whereupon  the  street  is  cleared  of  all  traffic  that  the 
royal  procession  may  pass.  The  infantry  is  followed 
by  about  fifty  cavalrymen  with  drawn  swords.  Next 
come  ten  or  a  dozen  riderless  Arabian  horses.  These 
horses  are  beauties  and  are  adorned  with  bridles  of 
gold  and  many  precious  stones. 

The  King's  table  is  set  with  the  luxuries  of  the  land. 
From  the  time  of  the  purchase  until  it  appears  on  the 
table  the  food  is  inspected  by  two  trusted  officials, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  see  that  the  King  is  not  poisoned. 
Before  the  King  eats  of  the  food  it  is  further  examined 
by  his  physician. 

The  late  Shah  left  $200,000,000  to  his  son,  nearly 
half  of  which  was  in  the  form  of  precious  stones  and 
jewelry.  He  probably  has  a  larger  amount  invested 
in  precious  stones  than  any  other  king  in  the  world. 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AND  GOVERNMENT     33 

His  peacock  throne  which  was  brought  from  Delhi, 
India,  by  King  Nadirshah,  who  captured  that  city 
two  hundred  years  ago,  was  valued  some  years  ago 
at  $12,500,000,  but  is  worth  more  than  that  now. 
It  is  of  solid  gold  embedded  with  diamonds,  pearls. 
and  other  precious  stones.  At  the  beginning  of 
each  year,  seated  on  this  peacock  throne,  the  Shah 
wears  his  crown,  and  all  his  officers  bow  before  him 
and  wish  him  a  prosperous  reign  during  the  coming 
year.  On  such  occasions  his  person  is  covered  with 
many  dazzling  jewels. 

In  no  court  is  there  more  rigid  attention  paid  to 
ceremony.  The  looks,  words,  and  even  movements  of 
the  body  are  all  regulated  by  the  strictest  forms.  When 
the  King  is  seated  in  public,  his  sons,  ministers,  and 
courtiers  stand  erect  with  their  hands  crossed,  and  in 
the  exact  place  belonging  to  their  rank.  They  watch 
his  looks  and  a  glance  is  a  command.  If  he  speaks  to 
them,  you  hear  a  voice  reply  and  see  the  lips  move, 
but  not  a  motion  or  a  gesture  betrays  that  there  is 
animation  in  the  person  thus  addressed.  He  often 
speaks  of  himself  in  the  third  person,  as  "The  King 
is  pleased,  The  King  commands."  His  ministers  ad- 
dress him  with  high-sounding  titles,  giving  expression 
to  the  popular  sentiments  in  regard  to  him.  For 
instance,  he  is  called  "The  object  of  the  world's  re- 
gard," Kibla  i  alum,  or  "  Point  of  the  Universe," 
"King  of  Kings,"  and  the  "Lord  of  the  Universe." 

The  civil  and  criminal  law  of  all  Mohammedan 
nations  is  well  known  to  be  founded  on  the  precepts 


34  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

of  the  Koran  and  the  traditions,  or  Sonna;  that  is,  the 
oral  commentaries  and  sayings  of  the  immediate  suc- 
cessors of  the  Prophet.  This,  called  the  Sherrah  or 
Avritten  law,  is  the  rule  in  all  regular  courts,  where 
persons  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  preside.  But  in 
Persia  there  is  also  the  Urf  or  customary  law,  which 
is  administered  by  secular  magistrates  having  the 
King  as  their  head.  The  respective  powers  and  privi- 
leges of  these  two  branches  of  the  judicature  have  al- 
ways been  matters  of  dispute ;  and  the  point  of  pre- 
cedence, or  rather  of  preponderance,  has  varied  with 
the  character  and  disposition  of  the  sovereign ;  those 
of  a  strongly  religious  bias  being  inclined  to  refer  all 
cases  to  the  Sherrah,  while  others  would  vest  the  chief 
authority  in  the  secular  tribunals. 

The  Sheik  al  Islam  is  the  supreme  judge  in  the 
Sherrah  courts,  although  the  reat  influence  possessed 
by  the  Mooshteheds  or  chief  pontiffs,  to  whose  supe- 
rior knowledge  deference  is  always  paid,  might  war- 
rant their  being  considered  as  higher  still.  In  every 
town  there  is  such  a  sheik  nominated  by  the  King,  with 
a  salary ;  and  in  the  larger  cities  there  is  also  a  cauzee, 
who  has  the  further  aid  of  a  council  of  mollahs. 

The  Urf  is  administered  by  his  majesty  in  person, 
by  his  lieutenants,  the  rulers  of  provinces,  governors 
of  cities,  magistrates  of  towns,  collectors  of  districts, 
and  all  the  officers  who  act  under  them.  All  these  are 
competent  to  hear  causes  and  complaints,  summon  evi- 
dence, give  decisions,  and  inflict  punishment,  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  rank.     And  as  the  customary 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AND  GOVERNMENT     35 

law  is  more  arbitrary  than  the  written,  these  judgments 
are  more  summary,  and  generally  enforced  with  cor- 
responding vigor.  There  is,  however,  an  appeal  to  the 
superior  functionaries ;  and  it  is  this  alone  which  con- 
trols the  venality  of  the  lower  judges.  Still  the  power 
of  life  and  death  rests  with  the  King,  who  seldom  dele- 
gates it,  except  to  princes  of  the  blood-royal  or  to 
governors  of  remote  provinces.  The  courts  are  held 
in  public,  and  the  monarch  sits  a  certain  time  each  day, 
in  his  hall  of  audience,  to  receive  petitions  and  decide 
such  cases  as  come  before  him. 

Capital  punishment  is  conducted  in  different  ways. 
A  prince  from  the  royal  family  has  authority  to  behead 
men.  Sometimes  when  a  good  friend  of  the  King  is 
appointed  governor,  the  King  presents  him  with  a 
knife.  This  is  a  sign  and  carries  with  it  authority  to 
behead  men.  Every  prince-mayor  or  other  governor 
who  has  been  given  this  authority  keeps  two  execution- 
ers. The  uniform  of  their  office  is  a  suit  of  red  clothes. 
These  two  men  walk  before  the  mayor  when  he  goes 
through  the  streets.  When  a  condemned  man  is  to  be 
executed,  he  is  brought  from  the  cell,  hands  chained 
behind  and  with  a  chain  about  his  neck.  He  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  soldiers  with  fixed  bayonets. 
The  guilty  man  has  been  in  a  dungeon  for  several 
months  perhaps.  His  clothes  are  in  rags,  and,  having 
had  no  bath  since  first  imprisoned,  he  is  very  dirty  and 
his  hair  and  beard  are  long  and  shaggy.  A  few  steps 
before  him  walks  the  executioner,  with  blood-red  gar- 
ments and  knife  in  his  hand.    Thus  they  proceed  to  the 


36  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

public  square,  and  before  the  assembled  crowd  the 
executioner  steps  behind  the  kneeling  victim  and  with 
a  single  stroke  of  the  keen  knife  cuts  his  throat,  and 
another  soul  takes  its  flight,  having  completed  its  part 
in  the  drama  of  life. 

A  common  mayor,  who  has  not  the  authority  to  be- 
head,   may   kill   criminals   by    fastening   them   to   the 
mouth  of  a  cannon  and  sending  a  ball  through  the 
body.      Another   method    is   to   bury    the    condemned 
alive  in  a  cask  filled  with  cement,   leaving  only  the 
head  exposed.    The  cement  soon  hardens  and  the  vic- 
tim dies.    Sometimes  when  their  crime  is  not  very  bad 
the  punishment  is  the  severing  of  one  hand  from  the 
body.     If  the  man  thus  punished  should  commit  an- 
other crime,  the  remaining  hand  would  be   severed. 
If  a  Mohammedan  becomes  drunk  with  wine  and  gets 
loud  and  abusive,  he  is  arrested  and  the  executioner 
punctures  the  partition  skin  between  the  nostrils  of  the 
drunken  man  and  a  cord  of  twine  several  feet  long  is 
passed  through  the   opening.     Then  the   executioner 
starts  down  the  street  leading  his  victim.     The  man 
soon  gets  sober  and  is  very  much  ashamed.     Shop- 
keepers along  the  way  give  the  executioner  pennies. 
Princes,  lords,  and  counts  are  never  beheaded.   The 
most  severe  punishment  for  a  prince  is  to  pluck  out 
his  eyes.     The  method  of  execution  for  counts  and 
lords  is  of  two  kinds.    The  King  will  send  a  bottle  of 
sharbat  to  the  condemned  man,  which  is  given  him  in 
the  form  of  a  sweet  drink,  but  it  contains  a  deadly 
poison.     He  is  compelled  to  drink  this  and  soon  dies. 


THE  ROYAL  FAMILY  AND  GOVERNMENT  37 

Another  form  is  for  the  condemned  man  to  be  met  by 
a  servant  from  the  governor  after  having  taken  a  bath, 
and  the  servant  cuts  blood-vessels  in  the  arm  of  the 
condemned  until  death  results  from  loss  of  blood. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  contrast  in  modes  of 
punishment  in  a  Christian  nation  and  a  Mohammedan 
nation  is  very  great.  The  kind  of  punishment  inflicted 
upon  criminals  in  any  country  grows  out  of  the  pre- 
vailing religious  belief  of  that  country.  A  religion  that 
has  much  cruelty  in  it  will  lead  a  people  to  torture  its 
criminals.  But  a  nation  whose  religion  is  based  upon 
love  will  deal  with  its  criminals  effectively,  but  as 
kindly  as  possible.  The  writer  has  visited  prisons  in 
both  Persia  and  America,  and  finds  that  the  contrast 
between  the  prisons  of  the  two  countries  is  like  the 
contrast  of  a  palace  and  a  cellar.  Prisoners  in  Amer 
ica  ought  to  be  very  thankfr1  for  the  humane  treatment 
thev  receive  under  a  Christian  government.^ 


CHAPTER  III 

PERSIA  UNDER  A   CONSTITUTION 

THE  world  was  never  so  greatly  surprised  as  when 
Persia  demanded  and  was  given  a  constitution. 
It  was  supposed  that  she  was  hardly  emerged  from 
the  conditions  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  during  the 
last  days  of  the  life  of  Muzaffer-ed-din,  father  of  the 
lately  deposed  Shah,  that  the  demand  was  made  by 
the  people.  The  King  was  sick  unto  death  when  the 
imperfectly  framed  Constitution  was  brought  to  him, 
but  he  approved  it.  Then  he  and  Mohammed,  his  son 
and  heir,  signed  a  separate  paper,  swearing  on  the 
Koran  that  they  would  not  dissolve  the  Parliament  for 
two  years.  The  document  was  unsatisfactory  to  the 
new  Senate,  and  it  had  to  be  revised.  The  work  was 
speedily  done,  and  the  Shah  and  his  heir  again  pledged 
their  fealty  to  it.  Very  soon  after  this  Muzaffer  died 
and  Mohammed  became  Shah  of  Persia.  If  any  mon- 
arch ever  had  his  hands  full  of  trouble  at  the  moment 
of  his  ascending  the  throne,  that  ruler  was  Mohammed 
AH.  For  the  third  time  he  pledged  to  adhere  to  the 
new  Constitution  and  gave  out  a  program  of  reforms 
that  he  hoped  to  aocomplish  with  the  aid  of  the  Par- 
liament. His  reign,  however,  was  troublous  from  the 
outset.  One  of  his  brothers  instantly  asserted  his 
claims  to  the  throne  from  the  province  of  Luristan  on 

38 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  39 

the  Turkish  border.  His  revolt  lasted  only  for  a  little 
time  and  then  the  Turks  renewed  the  trouble  that  has 
lasted  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  over  the  boun- 
dary between  their  Asiatic  territory  and  the  Persian 
Empire.  This,  too,  came  to  nothing.  The  issue  was 
staved  off  after  some  trifling  bloodshed,  but  there  was 
no  putting  off  the  troubles  with  Parliament,  which  ac- 
tually started  with  the  reign  itself. 

The  leaders  of  the  National  party,  in  control  of  the 
Parliament,  demanded  ministerial  responsibility,  con- 
trol of  the  finances,  and  an  immediate  radical  reform  of 
administration  throughout  the  country,  with  cessation 
of  despotic  cruelty,  grafting,  and  oppressive  taxation. 
The  Shah  replied  that  they  might  as  well  demand  a 
republic  at  once,  yet  when  it  came  to  the  breaking 
point  he  gave  in,  surrendered  every  point.  All  this 
took  place  within  a  month  after  his  accession.  His 
surrender,  the  first  of  many,  was  on  February  12,  1907. 
On  this  same  day  broke  out  the  first  of  a  series  of  riots 
in  Tabreez,  the  capital  of  Azerbaijan,  the  northern 
province  of  Persia  on  the  Russian  border. 

The  details  of  Shah  Mohammed  Ali's  conflict  with 
his  Parliament  are  tedious  and  unimportant.  They 
consisted  of  alternate  resistances  and  surrenders  on 
his  part  as  the  legislators  pressed  demand  after  de- 
mand upon  him.  Troubles  increased.  The  Grand 
Vizier,  Amines-Sultan,  was  murdered  in  the  Mcjhss, 
the  Parliament  building,  on  September  2,  1907.  The 
struggle  seemed  to  be  at  an  end  on  December  7,  when 
the  Shah  once  more  signed  a  declaration,  swearing  by 


40  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

the  Koran  to  uphold  Lhs  Constitution  and  co-operate 
in  the  reforms  demanded  by  the  people.  This  event 
had  an  important  result  in  July,  1909,  when  the  muj- 
tchids,  or  holy  men  of  the  Shiite  sect  of  Mohammedan- 
ism, excommunicated  Mohammed  Ali  for  perjury  in 
breaking  his  oath,  thus  rendering  him  ineligible  to 
reign  and  paving  the  way   for  his  deposition. 

The  end  of  the  struggle  with  Parliament,  or,  rather, 
the  end  of  the  first  battle,  came  in  June,  1908,  when, 
in  response  to  a  proposal  to  cut  his  personal  income  to 
$500,000  a  year  the  Shah's  artillery  opened  fire  on  the 
Parliament  building  and  the  streets  of  Teheran  flowed 
with  blood  for  two  days,  as  the  despot's  soldiery  butch- 
ered members  of  the  Assembly  and  Nationalist  leaders 
and  sympathizers  wherever  they  could  find  them. 
Curiously  enough,  the  Shah  and  his  following  managed 
to  create  the  impression  that  the  suppression  of  the 
liberal  movement  was  excusable  if  not  actually  praise- 
worthy. Its  leaders  were  blackened  with  accusations 
of  cruelty  and  oppression  toward  their  opponents,  and 
perhaps  the  charges  were  not  wholly  untrue.  This 
massacre  was  the  end  of  Persia's  first  Parliament,  but 
it  was  far  from  the  end  of  the  Shah's  troubles  and 
vacillation  in  respect  to  the  parliamentary  question. 
Two  or  three  times  in  1909  he  issued  proclamations  of 
the  renewal  of  constitutional  government,  and  each 
time  except  the  last  it  was  withdrawn.  So  far  as  Mo- 
hammed Ali  is  concerned,  at  least  for  the  present,  the 
end  ~ame  July  16,  1909,  when,  following  a  proclama- 
tion of  the  mujtehids  that  the  Shah  was  no  longer  a 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  41 

true  Moslem,  and,  therefore  it  was  permissible  to  wage 
against  him  a  Holy  War,  the  monarch  was  formally 
dethroned  and  the  Crown  Prince  Ahmed  Mirza  was 
proclaimed  Shah  by  the  National  Assembly  at  Teheran. 
Ahmed  Mirza  is  the  second  son  of  his  father.  His 
elder  brother  is  not  eligible  to  reign  because  his  mother 
is  not  a  princess  of  the  reigning  Kajar  house,  which 
has  ruled  Persia  since  1794.  Ahmed  Mirza  is  now 
(1910)  in  his  thirteenth  year,  and  during  his  minority 
the  government  will  be  administered  by  a  regent,  Azud 
es-Sultan,  known  as  Ul  Mulk,  one  of  the  uncles  of  the 
young  ruler.  Both  the  British  and  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment, it  is  said,  will  aid  the  Persian  Nationalists  to 
establish  a  strong  government  at  Teheran.  It  is  main- 
tained that  the  council  of  intelligent  men  that  is  ac- 
tually now  administering  the  government  can  restore 
the  prestige  of  the  country  and  maintain  order.  With 
a  substantial  loan  from  some  other  nation  or  nations 
the  regeneration,  industrial  and  economic,  can  be  un- 
dertaken and  Persia  can  look  forward  to  a  future. 
Under  the  important  royal  rescript,  the  Majlis  i  Shora 
i  Milli,  the  National  Council,  shall  consist  of  and  be 
elected  by  members  of  the  reigning  dynasty,  and  by 
the  clergy,  chiefs,  nobles,  land-owners,  and  merchants. 
A  later  decree  fixed  the  number  of  members  at  one 
hundred  and  fifty-six,  elected  for  a  term  of  two  years. 
The  Assembly  meets  annually  in  October.  There  is 
also  provided  a  Senate  of  sixty  members.  If  it  seems 
strange  that  a  constitution,  parliamentary  institutions, 
and  a  reformed  administration  should  be  so  insistently 


42  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

demanded  by  a  people  apparently  backward  as  the 
Persians  are,  there  are  really  good  reasons  for  the 
Persian  state  of  mind.  Dr.  Mirza  Abdullah  and  Rahim 
Zadeh,  delegates  sent  by  the  Nationalists  to  Paris  to 
present  their  side  of  the  situation,  have  been  at  some 
pains  to  explain  the  movement.  In  condensed  form 
this  is  their  explanation : 

"First  of  all,  Persia,  like  India,  has  '  caught  the 
rebound '  from  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  The  stag- 
nant nations  are  awakening,  and  Persia  is  one  of  them. 
But  above  all  it  is  the  reform  movement  in  Russia 
that  has  stimulated  the  Persians,  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  despotism.  Under  this  deadly  regime  Persia  has  not 
been  able  to  support  its  people.  They  have  swarmed 
by  thousands  across  the  Russian  frontier  in  search  of 
work.  There  are  fifty  thousand  of  them  in  Baku ; 
there  are  thousands  in  Astrakhan.  Every  port  on  the 
Caspian  and  Black  Sea  has  its  contingent.  The  pe- 
troleum region  of  the  Caucasus  is  full  of  them.  They 
have  ascended  the  Volga.  They  are  stevedores  at 
Odessa  and  Constantinople  and  Batum.  Everywhere 
they  are  in  contact  with  the  men  of  advanced  ideas, 
Young  Russians  and  Young  Turks.  In  this  the  whole 
story  is  told.  They  absorb  the  ideas  of  liberalism. 
They  send  them  home  in  letters ;  they  take  them  home 
when  they  return  with  their  savings.  These  exiles 
are  the  leaven  that  has  started  the  Persian  ferment." 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  future  of  Persia  will  be 
in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  the  Russian,  the  English- 
man, the  German ;  and  it  is  necessary  that  this  should 
be  so.  There  are  great  resources  of  all  kinds  in  Persia, 
but  they  have  never  been  developed  for  the  good  of 
the  nation.  In  the  whole  realm  there  are  but  ten  miles 
of  railroad,  and  this  is  not  for  industrial  purposes,  but 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  43 

is  a  single  track  extending  from  Teheran  to  the  shrine 
of  a  former  Shah. 

How  government  under  a  constitution  is  going  to 
affect  the  every-day  life  of  the  people  can  not  yet  be 
determined.  Certain  it  is  that,  with  the  exception  of 
Africa,  in  no  other  land  can  such  a  lack  of  progress- 
iveness  be  found.  The  cities  and  villages  of  Persia 
appear  particularly  monotonous  and  uninteresting. 
The  houses,  built  of  mud,  or  a  sort  of  preparation  of 
mud  and  other  ingredients,  do  not  differ  in  color  from 
the  earth  on  which  they  stand,  and  from  their  lowness 
and  irregular  construction  resemble  protuberances  on 
the  surface,  rather  than  human  dwellings.  Even  those 
of  the  great  seldom  exceed  one  story,  and  the  lofty 
walls  which  hide  them  from  view  produce  a  blank  and 
cheerless  effect.  There  are  no  public  buildings  except 
the  mosques,  medressas  or  colleges,  and  caravansaries ; 
and  these  are  seldom  imposing,  nearly  all  of  them  be- 
ing built  of  mud  like  the  dwellings.  A  hasty  survey 
of  the  whole  scene  embraces  an  assemblage  of  flat 
roofs,  little  rounded  cupolas,  and  long  walls  of  mud, 
thickly  interspersed  with  ruins.  Minarets  and  domes 
of  any  magnitude  arc  rare,  and  few  possess  claim  to 
elegance  or  grandeur.  Of  course,  there  are  exceptions 
to  these  conditions  in  the  more  important  cities  like 
Teheran  and  Tabreez,  but  the  general  atmosphere  that 
pervades  touring  in  Persia  is  intolerably  monotonous. 
Even  the  smoke  which  pours  from  the  tall  chimneys  of 
cities  in  industrial  countries  and  hovers  over  the  roofs 
of  the  houses,  suggesting  the  existence  of  life  and  com- 


-J  4  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

fort,  is  wanting  here.  Beyond  the  walls,  of  course,  are 
to  be  found  the  wonderful  Persian  gardens  with  their 
chinar,  cypress,  and  fruit  trees,  their  rose  hedges  and 
gay  parterres. 

On  approaching  these  Persian  cities  and  villages, 
even  such  of  them  as  have  been  capitals  of  the  empire, 
the  traveler  casts  his  eyes  around  for  those  marks  of 
human  intercourse,  and  listens  for  that  hum  of  men, 
which  never  fail  to  cheer  the  heart  and  raise  the  spirits 
of  the  wayfarer ;  but  he  looks  and  listens  in  vain.  In- 
stead of  the  well-ordered  road,  bordered  with  hedge- 
rows, enclosures,  and  gay  habitations,  and  leading  in 
due  course  to  the  imposing  street  of  lofty  and  substan- 
tial edifices ;  he  who  approaches  an  Eastern  town  must 
thread  the  narrow  and  dusty  lane,  rugged  as  the  tor- 
rent's bed,  confined  by  decayed  mud  walls,  or  high 
enclosures  of  sun-dried  bricks,  which  shut  up  what- 
ever of  verdure  the  place  can  boast ;  he  must  pick  his 
uncertain  way  among  heights  and  hollows — the  frag- 
ments of  old  buildings,  and  the  pits  which  have  sup- 
plied the  material  for  new  ones.  At  length,  reaching 
the  wall,  generally  in  a  state  of  dilapidation,  which 
girds  the  city,  and  entering  the  gateway,  where  lounge 
a  few  squalid  guards,  he  finds  himself  in  a  bazaar.  This 
custom  among  Asiatic  people  of  building  walls  and 
gates  to  their  cities  is  as  old  as  their  civilization.  The 
walls  of  a  city  stand  as  prominently  in  the  Bible  as 
Mount  Zion.  They  were  the  protection  of  ancient 
cities  even  as  they  are  to  this  day.  They  are  looked 
upon  with  much  veneration  and  their  strong  walls  give 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  45 

much  comfort  to  the  inhabitants.  Hence  Isaiah  uses 
the  expression,  'Thou  shalt  call  thy  walls  Salvation 
and  thy  gates  Praise."  And  in  Revelation  we  find  the 
walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem  adorned  with  all  manner 
of  precious  stones  and  the  twelve  gates  of  entrance. 
David  addresses  the  gates  personally,  saying:  "Lift  up 
your  heads,  O  ye  gates :  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  ever- 
lasting doors:  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in." 
It  is  in  the  Eastern  cities  that  we  can  come  most  into 
a  svmpathetic  understanding  of  these  majestic  utter- 
ances. 

As  has  been  stated,  most  of  the  buildings  of  the 
cities  are  earthen.  The  market  is  usually  built  of  brick, 
however,  and  arched  over  everywhere  so  one  can  not 
see  the  sky,  with  skylights  here  and  there.  The  shop- 
keepers are  usually  Mohammedans.  You  see  them  at 
their  prayers.  They  will  stop  their  prayers  and  come 
and  wait  on  you  if  you  wish  to  buy  anything  and  then 
go  back  to  their  prayers.  When  a  Persian  lady  goes 
out  to  buy  anything,  she  veils  herself  completely.  Com- 
mon people  leave  a  little  space  for  the  eyes  so  as  to  see, 
but  the  noble  ladies  leave  only  small  holes  to  look 
through.  The  cities  are  divided  into  wards,  each  ward 
with  a  name,  but  there  are  no  names  for  the  streets,  and 
no  numbers  on  the  houses.  If  you  want  to  find  a  friend, 
you  must  give  the  name  of  the  ward,  to  which  you 
will  be  directed,  and  then  you  will  have  to  visit  each 
house  in  the  ward  until  you  find  the  right  one.  After 
ten  o'clock  at  night,  policemen  walk  the  streets  and 
arrest  any  one  they  find  abroad.     If  any  one  attempts 


46  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

to  run  away,  the  policeman  sets  a  dog  on  him.  Each 
night  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  in  the  year 
has  an  individual  name.  When  any  person  is  arrested 
the  policeman  asks  what  he  is  out  for,  and  he  will  in- 
variably say,  "I  went  to  see  a  friend  and  it  got  late." 
The  policeman  will  then  ask  him  what  night  it  is,  and 
if  he  can  tell,  he  is  allowed  to  go ;  if  not,  he  is  detained 
and  maltreated  until  morning,  when  he  must  pay  a  for- 
feit or  give  a  present  to  the  policeman  before  he  is 
released. 

When  one  looks  at  a  village  it  seems  like  one  house, 
for  the  houses  are  built  so  close  together.  All  the  build- 
ings are  of  earth,  around  them  are  orchards  or  vine- 
yards, and  around  these  are  earth-walls  fifteen  feet 
high,  so  no  one  can  enter.  In  the  summer  season  it  is 
very  hot  in  Persia,  and  people  sleep  on  the  tops  of 
the  houses,  which  are  flat.  The  houses  are  so  close 
together  that  neighbors  can  pass  from  each  other's 
housetops  without  going  down,  and  you  can  walk  on 
the  tops  of  the  houses  over  a  great  part  of  the  village 
as  well  as  on  the  ground. 

Most  of  the  Persians  are  very  poor,  and  this  pov- 
erty is  attributed  to  two  causes.  First,  business  is  poor 
and  employment  hard  to  get ;  second,  taxation  is  great. 
As  to  business ;  there  are  no  railroads  in  the  country, 
and  the  traveling  is  on  horseback,  thirty  miles  a  day. 
There  are  no  large  factories  and  companies  to  give 
employment  to  people,  which  accounts  for  so  many 
living  in  constant  idleness,  or  seeking  in  foreign  coun- 
tries for  employment.    Most  of  the  business  is  farming, 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  47 

but  the  land  is  owned  by  a  rich  class  of  Mohammedans 
who  are  called  lords.  Business  in  the  cities  is  the  open 
bazaar,  where  all  methods  of  manufacture  are  exposed 
to  the  view  of  the  passers-by. 

The  farmers  and  day-laborers  are  in  a  most  de- 
plorable condition,  because  all  the  land  in  the  kingdom 
of  Persia  is  owned  by  khans.  Each  khan  owns  from 
five  ro  twenty-five  villages.  The  peasants  who  live  in 
these  villages  first  have  to  buy  a  lot  from  their  khan 
and  build  a  house  on  it.  Then  every  year  they  have 
to  pay  a  tax  on  the  house.  If  they  keep  cattle,  they 
must  pay  a  tax  on  every  cow,  buffalo,  horse,  or  sheep. 
Every  house  has  to  furnish  to  the  khan  annually  two 
chickens,  a  certain  number  of  eggs,  and  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  fuel,  which  must  be  of 
timber.  This  is,  of  course,  very  scarce  in  most  parts 
of  that  dry,  barren,  and  mountainous  country.  Many 
of  the  peasants  have  no  timber  at  all  and  have  to  buy  it 
to  pay  their  khan.  The  khan  furnishes  the  land,  while 
the  peasants  have  to  furnish  everything  else  that  is 
necessary  to  produce  and  take  off  their  crops  of  wheat, 
barley,  or  millet,  and  make  the  grain  ready  for  use; 
then  they  are  allowed  to  keep  one-third  of  it,  while  the 
other  two-thirds  they  must  give  to  the  khan  for  the  use 
of  the  land.  Besides  all  these  things  they  have  to  pay 
the  government  taxes,  which  are  not  only  double,  but 
sometimes  more  than  double  the  amount  they  have  to 
pay  to  the  khan.  A  common  laborer  receives  about 
twenty-five  cents  a  day  for  his  work,  which  makes  it 
exceedingly  hard  for  him  to  support  a  family  and  to 


48  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

pay  the  exorbitant  taxes.  When  the  collectors  come  to 
the  village,  many  of  the  men  will  run  away  because 
they  have  no  money  at  hand  to  pay  their  taxes.  When 
a  khan  or  lord  returns  from  a  journey  and  comes  in  to 
visit  his  village,  the  peasants  all  prepare  to  meet  him  at 
a  certain  distance  from  the  village.  They  take  with 
them  an  animal  and  at  their  meeting  with  their  khan 
they  cut  its  head  off  in  the  road,  then  place  its  head 
on  one  side  of  the  road  and  its  body  on  the  other, 
which  means,  "O  master,  may  the  lines  of  thine  ene- 
mies be  thus  broken  or  cut  asunder  before  thee." 
Upon  his  arrival  his  peasant  subjects  bring  him  chick- 
ens, eggs,  and  fruit,  and  he  and  his  servants  feast  at 
the  expense  of  his  poor,  down-trodden  subjects.  Those 
that  are  at  all  in  good  circumstances  he  will  try  to  find 
fault  with. 

This  picture  of  conditions  in  Persia  may  seem  over- 
drawn, for  it  hardly  seems  possible  that  in  this  enlight- 
ened and  civilized  age  there  is  a  spot  anywhere  on  our 
beautiful  earth  that  could  be  so  down-trodden.  Nev- 
ertheless, these  are  the  conditions  as  they  actually  exist 
in  Persia  in  1910.  Persia  is  the  richest  and  yet  the 
poorest  kingdom  in  the  world.  Her  people  are  living 
in  abject  misery  and  unenlightened  poverty,  while  her 
royalty  and  nobility  count  their  treasures  by  millions. 
and  can  bury  their  arms  elbow  deep  in  vases  of  pearls 
and  other  precious  gems.  That  a  change  is  necessary 
is  quickly  to  be  seen,  but  whether  the  remedy  is  to  be 
a  constitutional  monarchy  is  not  yet  proved.  What- 
ever the  remedy,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  ancient 


PERSIA  UNDER  A  CONSTITUTION  49 

realm  will  not  eventually  fall  a  prey  to  some  of  the 
great  world  powers,  but  that  the  land  of  poetry  and 
roses  may  have  as  happy  a  future  before  her  as  she 
once  had  a  glorious  and  mighty  past.c 


CHAPTER  IV 

MANNERS    AND    CUSTOMS    OF    THE    PERSIANS 

PERHAPS  in  no  other  country  in  the  world  are 
there  so  many  queer  customs  in  every-day  life  as 
are  to  be  found  in  Persia.  Chief  among  these  are  the 
customs  that  attend  matrimony.  The  population  of 
Persia  is  made  up  of  many  different  tribes,  nationali- 
ties, and  religions,  each  of  which  retains  its  own  lan- 
guage, manners,  customs,  and  peculiarities,  and  refuses 
to  enter  into  any  marriage  compact  with  others.  At 
present  there  are  living  in  Persia  Jews,  Christians,  Mo- 
hammedans, and  many  other  tribes  of  different  faiths, 
but  none  of  them  are  allowed  to  intermarry  without 
exacting  concessions  from  the  others  that  they  are 
unwilling  to  make.  Occasionally  a  Mohammedan  will 
capture  and  carry  off  a  pretty  girl  among  the  Nes- 
torian  and  Armenian  Christians,  compel  her  to  become 
a  Mohammedan,  and  then  marry  her. 

The  Mohammedans  of  Persia  marry  very  young, 
that  is,  from  the  age  of  twelve  and  upward.  The 
early  age  at  which  maturity  is  reached  and  the  desire 
of  parents  for  an  early  marriage  for  their  children  is 
the  cause  of  this.  Sometimes  parents  in  two  families, 
in  order  to  cement  a  perfect  friendship  between  them- 
selves, will  betroth  their  children  while  they  are  quite 
youti"-'   nnd   sometimes  a   man   may   notice  that  the 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS  51 

daughters  in  a  certain  family  are  naturally  good,  capa- 
ble, and  obedient,  at  the  same  time  beautiful  and 
healthy,  and  he  wishes  to  secure  the  hand  of  one  of 
these  girls  for  his  son.  To  make  sure  of  this  and  to 
make  it  impossible  for  any  other  man  to  ever  set  eyes 
on  her  he  gets  her  parents  to  consent  to  having  them 
betrothed  while  they  are  yet  children,  and  when  they 
are  grown  the  marriage  is  consummated.  These  mo- 
tives are  quite  common  among  all  the  nationalities  that 
live  in  Persia. 

After  the  engagement  has  taken  place  it  is  custom- 
ary among  the  Mohammedans  for  the  affianced  girl  and 
boy  or  their  parents  to  choose  each  a  representative 
who  meet,  or  else  parents  themselves  meet,  and  decide 
how  much  money  the  boy  shall  pay  to  his  intended  wife 
if  at  any  time  after  they  are  married  he  may  wish  to 
put  her  away  by  divorce.  This  money  is  called  kaben, 
and  the  amount  varies  from  ten  to  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, that  depending  largely  upen  the  standing  finan- 
cially of  the  contracting  parties.  The  sum  being  fixed, 
the  two  representatives  or  the  parents  of  the  engaged 
couple,  as  the  case  may  be,  go  to  their  priest  and  have 
him  write  two  letters  of  documental  testimony,  or-e 
each  for  the  betrothed  couple,  in  which  the  fixed 
amount  of  kaben  is  stated.  These  letters,  called  "kaben 
letters,"  are  kept  by  each  party  to  the  compact,  and 
whenever  the  husband  grows  tired  of  his  wife  or  dis- 
satisfied with  her,  he  simply  pays  her  the  stipulated 
amount  of  kaben  for  her  maintenance  and  is  thereby 
divorced  from  her. 


52 


ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 


This  makes  it  exceedingly  easy  to  be  divorced,  and 
many  evils  result  from  it,  so  that  the  Mohammedans 
themselves,  experiencing  the  evil  consequences  of  this 
lax  law,  try  to  make  divorces  impossible  by  fixing  as 
kaben  something  that  can  not  be  obtained.  For  ex- 
ample, they  sometimes  fix  upon  eight  or  more  pounds 
of  mosquitoes  or  house-fly  wings  as  the  kaben  a  hus- 
band must  pay  his  wife  if  he  would  divorce  her.  This, 
of  course,  he  can  not  pay. 

Sometimes,  instead  of  what  has  just  been  men- 
tioned, or  a  sum  of  money,  or  a  vineyard,  or  a  field, 
they  will  write  in  the  "kaben  letters"  that  if  a  husband 
would  put  away  his  wife  after  they  are  married  he 
must  give  her  an  arm  or  a  foot.  This  also  being  im- 
possible to  furnish,  if  the  husband  really  wants  his 
wife  divorced,  he  will  so  abuse  her  that  she  will  be 
obliged  to  say  Kaben  em  halal.  Janim  asad,  which 
means,  "I  make  my  kaben  legitimate  to  you.  Now  let 
my  soul  be  free."  She  will  then  be  divorced  and  glad 
of  her  escape. 

A  Mohammedan  is  allowed  to  marry  four  wives. 
All  four  marriages  are  legal  and  all  four  of  the  wives 
are  considered  to  be  on  an  equality  with  each  other. 
He  is  expected  to  love  them  all  equally  well,  and  can 
divorce  any  one  of  them  or  all  of  them  at  his  pleasure. 
Mohammed,  to  check  the  frequency  of  this  practice, 
decreed  that  a  wife  divorced  for  three  successive  times 
should  not  be  taken  back  a  third  time  by  her  husband 
until  she  had  been  married  to  another  man  and  di- 
vorced by  him.     After  that  her  first  husband  could 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS  53 

marry  her  again.  While  a  Mohammedan  is  limited  to 
four  legal  wives,  there  is  another  kind  of  wife  or  con- 
cubine called  seka.  The  number  of  these  that  a  man 
may  have  is  unlimited ;  he  is  allowed  to  have  as  many 
of  them  as  he  wishes  and  can  get.  There  are  several 
reasons  why  the  Mohammedan  believes  in  plural  mar- 
riages. First,  they  believe  it  is  a  sin  for  any  woman 
not  to  be  under  the  law  of  marriage,  and  according  to 
their  religion  man  is  regarded  so  vastly  superior  to 
woman  that  it  is  perfectly  proper  for  him  to  rule  over 
many  of  them ;  and  dominant  over  these  reasons, 
whether  they  recognize  it  or  not,  is,  no  doubt,  the  nat- 
ural depravity  of  human  nature,  making  laws  both 
in  religion  and  morals  to  suit  its  inclinations  and  fitting 
its  beliefs  to  its  desires. 

After  these  "kaben  letters"  have  been  written  and 
sealed  by  the  priest,  a  few  days  are  allowed  to  pass 
before  the  parents  of  the  two  contracting  parties  meet 
to  decide  upon  the  amount  of  money  to  be  furnished 
by  the  bridegroom's  father  for  the  purchase  of  clothes, 
or  parcha,  and  to  appoint  a  day  for  the  wedding,  or 
rather  for  its  beginning.  All  this  arranged,  both  par- 
ties go  to  the  city,  where  the  bride's  mother,  at  the 
expense  of  the  bridegroom's  father,  buys  as  much 
clothing  as  she  can  for  the  bride.  The  reason  the 
bride's  parents  have  for  buying  as  much  as  possible 
for  their  daughter  is  that  they,  or  particularly  the 
mother,  feels  that  her  daughter  is  now  going  to  a 
strange  place  to  live,  and  that  if  she  should  need  more 
clothing  in  a  short  time  after  her  marriage  she  would 


54  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

be  too  bashful  to  ask  for  it.  So  her  mother,  now  that 
she  has  the  opportunity,  provides  her  with  enough  to 
make  her  feel  happy  at  the  thought  of  her  marriage 
and  to  last  until  she  becomes  sufficiently  acquainted  in 
her  new  home  to  ask  for  what  she  needs.  After  this 
the  bride  is  busy  making  her  trousseau,  or  parcha,  as 
the  Persians  call  it.  Sometimes  she  calls  in  her  friends 
to  assist  her,  and  at  the  end  of  two  weeks  everything 
is  ready.  About  two  or  three  days  before  the  ap- 
pointed day  of  the  wedding  the  bridegroom's  father 
sends  out  his  heralds  to  the  surrounding  villages  and 
towns  to  invite  her  relatives  and  friends  to  come  to  the 
wedding. 

It  is  customary  among  the  Mohammedans  to  pro- 
vide the  heralds  with  apples,  roses,  cloves,  and  other 
aromatic  things.  When  they  are  going  to  invite  a  per- 
son, they  present  him  with  an  apple  or  a  clove  and  then 
extend  him  greetings  from  the  bridegroom's  father  with 
much  flattery  and  many  embellishments,  ending  with 
the  statement  that  "he  sends  his  love  and  asks  you  to 
come  to  the  wedding.'"  To  this  he  may  reply,  Allah 
mubaraklasen,  which  means,  "God  bless  it,  we  will  try 
to  come."  Should  the  bridegroom's  father  invite  any 
one  who  is  of  higher  rank  than  himself,  such  as  an 
official  dignitary,  he  would  not  send  heralds  to  such 
an  one,  but  would  go  himself,  carrying  with  him  a 
present  suited  to  his  rank.  This  he  would  present  to 
him  and  in  a  delighted  and  appropriate  manner  invite 
him  to  the  wedding.  This  person  of  higher  rank  may 
in  turn  send  a  valuable  present. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS  55 

Among  the  higher  classes  of  Mohammedans  who 
live  in  the  cities  and  are  very  wealthy,  sometimes  the 
weddings  continue  over  an  entire  week.  They  have 
long  weddings  because  the}'  are  rich  and  wish  to  add 
to  their  reputation  of  wealth  and  superiority.  Several 
male  cooks  are  employed  and  every  one  who  is  invited 
attends  the  wedding  every  day  during  the  whole  time, 
and  all  are  provided  with  good  substantial  meals,  con- 
sisting mainly  of  rice  and  meats.  Several  couples  of 
musicians  are  employed  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
guests.  Also  some  gypsies  to  dance  and  a  number  of 
jugglers  of  superior  skill  who  make  sport  and  amuse- 
ment for  the  crowd  by  their  tricks  of  extraordinary 
dexterity.  Some  storytellers,  singers,  and  players  on 
different  kinds  of  musical  instruments  also  add  to  the 
merriment.  Sometimes  prominent  wrestlers  are  also 
secured  and  crowds  of  guests  witness  their  feats  of 
strength,  the  victorious  one  receiving  a  prize  provided 
by  the  bridegroom's  father.  These  performances  are 
arranged  in  a  sort  of  program  for  each  day,  and  in  the 
evenings  there  is  a  display  of  fireworks.  None  of  the 
women  guests  are  present  at  these  sports,  but  may 
watch  them  from  the  housetop.  Even  when  the  wed- 
ding continues  for  more  than  a  week,  the  bride  is 
brought  to  the  house  of  her  father-in-law  on  the  fourth 
day.  No  matter  how  close  the  bride's  house  is  to  that 
of  the  bridegroom,  she  must  ride  there  on  horseback, 
for  that  is  the  custom.  In  the  afternoon  of  this  fourth 
day  all  the  musicians  and  a  crowd  of  people,  some 
mounted  on  horseback,  others  walking,  form  a  large 


56  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

procession  and  proceed  to  the  house  of  the  bride,  where 
they  are  welcomed  with  a  volley  from  guns  and  pistols. 
A  little  feast  is  now  had  at  the  bride's  home  while  she 
is  being  dressed  in  other  apartments  for  the  short  wed- 
ding journey.  Her  lady  friends  perform  the  duties  of 
maid,  and  she  is  arrayed  in  her  new  bridal  costume  and 
covered  with  two  veils  called  CJiarkat  and  Turma. 
The  former  is  a  scarlet  veil  which  covers  her  entire 
body  except  a  small  space  in  front,  which  is  covered  by 
a  beautiful  thin  white  silken  veil,  the  Turma.  No  one 
can  see  any  part  of  her  except  her  feet,  and  when  she 
appears  on  horseback,  it  is  simply  as  a  graceful  red  fig- 
ure. At  this  time  the  streets  and  housetops  are  crowded 
with  joyful  spectators.  When  the  bride  is  ready,  the 
musicians  play  a  sorrowful  tune  while  she  bids  farewell 
to  her  parents,  who  kiss  her  and  pronounce  their  bene- 
diction upon  her  and  fall  to  weeping  when  she  is  put 
upon  horseback.  As  soon  as  she  is  mounted  the  musi- 
cians change  their  tune  from  a  doleful  to  a  happy  one, 
while  another  volley  from  the  guns  and  pistols  pierces 
the  air.  Her  father-in-law  throws  a  handful  of  copper 
money  upon  her  head  to  show  that  he  intends  to  be 
liberal  with  her. 

A  bride  is  not  allowed  to  speak  with  her  mother-in- 
law  or  father-in-law  or  any  member  of  the  family  who 
is  older  than  herself,  and  very  little  with  their  neigh- 
bors. Neither  she  nor  her  husband  ever  address  each 
other,  except  when  quite  alone,  by  their  names.  Nor 
do  they  ever  speak  of  each  other  by  name,  but  as  "he" 
and  "she." 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS  57 

At  home  the  bride  must  have  her  head  covered  with 
a  veil  of  about  two  square  yards,  one  end  of  which 
covers  her  mouth  close  up  to  the  nose  and  is  called 
yashmak.  When  she  goes  out,  the  entire  person  must 
be  covered.  If  asked  anything  by  her  father-in-law 
or  mother-in-law,  she  either  replies  by  signs  or  through 
some  child  or  friend  present.  She  is  not  allowed  to 
eat  with  her  father-in-law  or  mother-in-law,  but  must 
wait  upon  them.  After  they  have  finished  their  meal, 
she  may  eat  with  the  children  of  the  family  or  with 
her  husband.  She  must  live  in  this  way  for  a  long 
time.  After  several  years  she  may  speak  with  her 
mother-in-law,   but  never   with   her   father-in-law. 

When  a  child  is  born  to  the  newly  married  pair, 
which  is  generally  within  a  year  or  two,  if  it  happens 
to  be  a  boy,  there  is  joy  beyond  measure,  and  the 
young  mother  is  greatly  praised  and  considered  a  very 
fortunate  woman.  Should  the  child  be  a  girl,  the  re- 
joicing is  not  so  great,  but  they  say :  "That  is  all  right. 
The  next  one  will  be  a  boy,  and  it  is  good  to  have  a 
daughter  first,  to  grow  up  to  help  mother  take  care  of 
her  younger  brothers  and  sisters."  When  a  child  is 
seven  days  old,  a  number  of  ladies  come  to  visit  the 
mother,  some  taking  with  them  either  a  dish  of  food 
or  a  piece  of  cloth  about  two  yards  long.  The  food  is 
eaten  by  the  family.  If  the  child  be  a  girl,  they  con- 
gratulate the  parents,  saying,  "May  the  foot  of  your 
maid  be  blessed  (that  is,  may  her  coming  into  the 
world  be  a  blessing),  and  may  God  preserve  her  to 
you.    We  hope  the  next  one  may  be  a  boy."    Should 


58  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

the  child  be  a  boy,  they  may  say,  "May  the  foot  of 
our  young  man  be  blessed.  May  God  spare  him  to 
you  and  make  him  like  hair  that  is  never  exhausted, 
but  grows  again  when  cut  or  pulled  out.  May  God  not 
think  one  son  enough  for  you.'' 

It  is  considered  a  shame  for  a  man  to  speak  of  any 
of  his  wives  when  in  company  with  other  men.  They 
may  speak  of  everything  else,  but  never  allow  their 
conversation  to  turn  to  their  own  domestic  affairs. 
At  their  gatherings  they  like  best  to  discuss  their 
religion,  and  next  to  that  is  politics,  which  they 
discuss  with  great  enthusiasm.  They  know  very  little 
of  history,  and  their  knowledge  of  art  and  philosophy 
is  also  quite  limited.  What  little  they  do  know  of  these 
latter  subjects  they  have  learned  from  the  Europeans 
who  are  teachers  and  instructors  in  their  principal 
cities,  and  especially  in  their  capital  city  Teheran.  They 
have  one  weekly  newspaper  published  in  Teheran, 
which  they  of  course  read.  If  any  one  among  them 
can  quote  or  recite  poetry  in  the  course  of  their  con- 
versation, he  is  much  admired,  for  they  are  great  lov- 
ers of  poetry.  In  this  respect  they  think  the  Persian 
language  excels  every  other  tongue ;  so  musical  is  it 
and  rich  in  idioms,  rhymes,  and  vowel  sounds  that 
Mohammed  once  said  that  he  would  ask  that  their  lan- 
guage might  be  the  language  of  paradise. 

When  a  prominent  man  comes  to  visit  certain 
persons  that  are  gathered  together,  if  he  is  of  higher 
rank  than  they,  as  he  enters  they  will  all  arise  and  con- 
tinue standing  until  he  is  seated.     Then  they  resume 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  PERSIANS  59 

their  seats  and  the  visitor  exchanges  greetings  by  bow- 
ing to  each  one  present  according  to  his  rank.  Imme- 
diately after  this  a  water-pipe  for  smoking  is  presented 
to  him.  Their  pipes  are  so  arranged  that  the  smoke 
goes  through  water  first,  which  purifies  it  before  it  is 
taken  into  the  mouth.  One  pipe  is  used  for  several 
persons.  When  one  has  finished  smoking,  the  pipe  is 
passed  to  the  one  who  sits  next  to  him,  and  so  on  until 
all  have  smoked.  When  all  have  finished  smoking,  tea, 
coffee,  or  fruit  may  be  served.  But  suppose  a  dinner 
consisting  of  rice  is  to  be  served,  then  it  is  brought  in 
on  small  copper  trays.  They  begin  eating  at  once, 
using  all  five  fingers  in  doing  so.  Of  course,  it  is  not 
uncommon  among  the  people  of  Persia  to  eat  with 
their  fingers,  but  to  see  Mohammedans  grasping  whole 
handfuls  and  eating  it  is  quite  a  sight.  They  use  all 
five  fingers  because  they  say  God  has  made  them  all 
and  it  is  a  sin  to  use  some  and  not  all  of  them.  When 
they  have  eaten,  a  servant  comes  with  warm  water, 
and  going  to  the  person  of  highest  rank,  will  hold  an 
empty  vessel  before  him  in  one  hand,  while  with  the 
other  hand  he  will  pour  water  upon  the  hands  of  the 
guest.  When  the  guest  of  honor  has  thus  washed  his 
hands,  the  servant  goes  in  the  same  way  to  another, 
and  so  on  until  all  have  washed  their  hands.  Rice 
cooked  as  the  Persians  cook  it  is  said  to  be  very  deli- 
cious and  much  liked  by  the  Turks  and  Arabs  as  well, 
but  the  two  latter  peoples  abhor  the  way  in  which  the 
Persians    eat    it.      This    distinction    in    table    manners 


60  ORIENTAL  LIFE— PERSIA 

shows  that  civilization  is  a  trifle  advanced  with  the 
Arabs  and  Turks. 

Mohammedans  who  can  read  and  write  always  have 
a  pair  of  scissors  in  the  ink-case  that  they  carry  in 
their  pockets.  When  they  write  a  letter,  they  always 
trim  the  margins  of  it,  for  tradition  is  current  among 
them  that  if  they  did  not  cut  the  margins  of  their  let- 
ters their  wives  would  be  untrue  to  them.  Having  put 
their  letters  into  envelopes  with  their  edges  properly 
trimmed,  they  always  seal  them  with  a  seal  that  most 
of  them  carry  in  their  purses.d 


TURKEY 

CHAPTER  V 

EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS 

MIDWAY  between  Europe  and  Asia,  having  the 
Black  Sea  upon  the  north  and  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  upon  the  south  lies  Turkey.  In  one  sense  the  cen- 
ter of  the  Eastern  Hemisphere,  this  country,  by  its  geo- 
graphical position  as  well  as  its  political  importance,  is 
the  "hinge"  of  the  continents.  Comprising  in  Europe 
63,850  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  more  than 
four  millions,  and  in  Asia  729,170  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  sixteen  millions,  there  are  to  be  added 
to  the  area  798,860  square  miles  in  Africa,  having  a 
population  of  7,817,265,  making  a  grand  total  of  about 
1,652,533  square  miles  and  33,000,000  people.  This 
entire  country,  including  its  dependencies,  is  known 
as  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

The  significance  borne  by  its  geographical  position 
has  been,  almost  since  its  first  existence  as  an  empire, 
sustained  by  its  political  importance  in  the  affairs  of 
Europe  and  Asia.  For  this  reason  —  and  equally 
whether  we  consider  it  in  its  palmy  days  under  its 
monarchs  whose  achievements  have  become  matters 
of  high  consideration  in  the  history  of  the  world,  when 
it  was  the  "Sick  Man,"  or  at  the  present  time  when  it 

61 


62  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

is  coming  out  into  the  light  of  civilization  and  taking 
its  place  in  the  great  march  of  progress,  it  challenges 
the  attention  of  humanity  everywhere — Turkey  may 
not  improperly  receive  the  title  which  we  have  ventured 
to  give  it,  the  "hinge  of  the  eastern  continents."  Shorn 
by  the  exigencies  of  war  and  the  devastation  of  foreign 
hosts  of  much  of  its  ancient  dominion,  the  Ottoman 
Empire  at  present  comprises  Albania,  Macedonia,  and 
the  southeastern  portion  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  in 
Europe,  Asia  Minor,  Eastern  Turkey  or  Kurdistan, 
Mesopotamia,  Syria,  and  Southern  Arabia  in  Asia, 
including  the  holy  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  Egypt 
and  Bulgaria  as  tributary  states,  and  in  nominal  sub- 
jection the  large  African  province  of  Tripoli. 

The  religion  of  the  Turk  is  Mohammedan.  He 
believes  in  one  God,  Allah,  and  Mohamet,  his  prophet. 
The  simplicity  of  his  faith  and  the  spirituality  of  its 
practice,  involving  devout  prayer  to  one  Supreme  Be- 
ing several  times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  does  pro- 
duce certain  ennobling  effects.  The  Turk  faithfully 
follows  out  his  religious  obligations  in  a  way  which 
might  put  many  Christians  to  shame ;  and  he  is  sober 
in  regard  to  wine,  as  strictly  enjoined  by  his  scrip- 
tures, the  Koran.  But  the  exceedingly  coarse  nature 
of  the  heaven  which  Mahomet  promised  to  his  faith- 
ful disciples  is  such  as  to  undo  all  the  good  effects  of 
their  abstinence  here.  Eating  and  drinking  and  all 
sensual  delights,  are  what  the  Turk  looks  forward  to 
when  he  shall  be  clothed  with  his  new  body,  as  the  re- 
ward of  the  virtues  he  is  commanded  to  practice  on 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       63 

earth ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  sure,  indeed  it  is  more  than 
doubtful,  whether  his  wives  and  daughters  will  share 
this  bliss.  Thus  the  domestic  affections  are  unsup- 
ported by  the  spiritual  hopes  which  nourish  the  beau- 
tiful blossoms  of  love  in  a  Christian  home.  His  para- 
dise is  at  best  a  very  questionable  one  in  point  of  good- 
ness, and  such  as  it  is,  he  looks  forward  to  it  selfishly. 

Some  of  the  leading  articles  of  belief  are  :  1.  There 
is  but  one  God.  2.  There  are  angels  of  various  ranks  ; 
among  them  a  fallen  spirit,  Eblis,  driven  from  Para- 
dise for  refusing  to  worship  Adam;  also  inferior  spir- 
its, liable  to  death,  called  Genii  and  Peris.  3.  There 
are  six  great  prophets — Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses, 
Jesus,  Mohamet.  4.  There  is  a  hell  called  Jehennam, 
and  a  Paradise  of  wondrous  beauty,  full  of  sensual 
delights.  5.  Men  have  no  free-will ;  but  all  things  are 
ruled  by  an  unchanging  fate — a  doctrine  tending  at 
first  to  kindle  reckless  fury  in  battle,  but  in  the  hour 
of  peace  a  source  of  corroding  indolence. 

Devout  Moslems  practice  four  great  religious  du- 
ties:  1.  Washing  of  curious  nicety,  followed  by 
prayers  five  times  a  day,  with  the  face  toward  Mecca. 
2.  The  giving  of  one-tenth  toward  charity.  3.  Fasting 
from  rise  to  set  of  sun  during  the  thirty  days  of  the 
month  Rhamadan.  Pork  and  wine  are  specially  for- 
bidden at  all  times.  4.  A  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  at  least 
once  in  a  lifetime,  which,  however,  may  be  performed 
by  proxy. 

As  the  time  for  the  resurrection  approaches,  the 
sun  will  rise  in  the  west ;  beasts  and  inanimate  things 


64  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

will  speak ;  and,  finally,  a  wind  will  sweep  away  the 
souls  of  those  who  have  faith,  even  if  equal  only  to  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  so  that  the  world  shall  be  left 
in  ignorance.  After  this  shall  come  the  last  day.  Then 
forty  years  of  oblivion  followed  by  the  resurrection. 

Next  the  day  of  judgment,  when  the  righteous 
shall  enter  Paradise,  and  the  wicked  hell ;  both,  how- 
ever, having  first  to  go  over  the  bridge  Al  Sirat,  laid 
over  the  midst  of  hell,  finer  than  a  hair,  sharper  than 
the  edge  of  a  sword,  and  beset  with  thorns  on  every 
side.  Upon  this  uncomfortable  thoroughfare  the 
righteous  will  proceed  with  ease  and  swiftness ;  but 
the  wicked,  probably  overweighted  by  their  sins,  will 
be  precipitated  headlong  into  hell — a  place  divided  by 
the  Koran  into  seven  stories  or  apartments,  respect- 
ively assigned  to  Mahometans,  Jews,  Christians,  Sab- 
ians,  Magians,  idolaters ;  and  the  lowest  of  all  to  the 
hypocrites,  who,  outwardly  professing  religion,  in  re- 
ality had  none. 

To  Arabia  is  given  the  rare  distinction  of  having 
produced  this  prophet  Mahomet,  and  it  is  for  this 
religion  that  the  Turks  have  proceeded  on  their  course 
of  massacre  and  cruelty  on  the  Eastern  Hemisphere. 
How  it  came  to  be  adopted  by  the  Turks  as  a  national 
religion  is  quickly  told.  The  Arabians  who  followed 
Mahomet  were  called  Saracens.  The  kings  or  rulers 
of  the  Saracen  Empire  were  called  Caliphs,  and  re- 
sided at  Bagdad,  a  splendid  city  which  they  built  on 
the  river  Tigris,  in  Mesopotamia.  These  Caliphs  ex- 
tended their  empire  over  a  considerable  part  of  Asia 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       65 

and  Africa  and  some  portions  of  Europe.  To  the  north 
of  Mesopotamia  there  were  several  tribes  of  Tartars, 
among  which  were  some  called  Turks.  These  were 
daring  warriors,  and  such  was  their  fame  that  the 
Caliphs  induced  many  of  them  to  come  to  Bagdad  and 
serve  as  soldiers. 

In  process  of  time  the  Turks  acquired  great  influ- 
ence at  Bagdad  and  finally  overturned  the  Saracen 
Empire,  made  themselves  masters  of  nearly  all  the  Sar- 
acen possessions,  and  adopted  the  Mohammedan  reli- 
gion. Thus  the  Turkish  Empire  became  the  successor 
of  the  Saracen  Empire,  and  included  in  its  dominions 
Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  and  other  Asiatic  coun- 
tries which  the  Saracens  had  wrested  from  the  Greek 
Empire.  In  the  year  1356,  the  Emir  (a  Turkish 
name  for  commander)  Solyman  crossed  the  Helles- 
pont and  seized  a  castle  on  the  European  shore.  This 
event  marks  the  first  firm  footing  gained  by  the  Turks 
on  European  soil ;  and  they  have  never  since  lost  their 
hold.  The  Turks,  however,  are  a  distinctively  Asiatic 
race,  both  in  their  origin  and  in  their  manner  of  life. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  trace  the  line  of 
conquest  by  the  sword  that  has  made  up  the  history  of 
Turkey,  nor  to  go  into  detail  regarding  their  Euro- 
pean possessions  and  their  great  capital  Constantinople. 
(  If  greater  importance  are  some  of  the  problems  that 
Turkey  has  offered  from  time  to  time  for  civilization 
to  solve.  Perhaps  the  first  and  greatest  of  these  has 
been  the  Armenian  question.  It  was  this  question  that 
brought  about  the  Russo-Turkish  War,  at  the  end  of 


66  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

which  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  imposed  upon  Abdul  Hamid 
II.  the  task  of  re-establishing-  the  empire  and  inaugu- 
rating reforms  in  government. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  country  was  in  a 
demoralized  state.  The  regular  expenditures  exceeded 
the  income,  and  the  currency  had  depreciated.  In  fact, 
the  whole  business  interests  of  the  empire  were  disor- 
ganized. The  Sultan  entered  upon  his  task  with  un- 
questionable sincerity,  and  appointed  men  of  ability  to 
assist  him  in  establishing  needed  reforms.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  trouble  commenced  in  Egypt. 
Ismail  Pasha  was  deposed  by  the  Powers  interested  in 
the  construction  of  the  Suez  Canal,  and  his  feeble  son, 
Tewfik  Pasha,  was  made  his  successor.  The  pressure 
brought  to  bear  on  the  country  by  the  Powers,  demand- 
ing interest  on  the  bonds  placed  there,  caused  the  crea- 
tion of  the  National  party,  who  desired  the  absolute 
independence  of  Egypt.  This  party  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Arabi  Pasha,  caused  an  uprising  of  the  soldiers 
and  compelled  the  Khedive  to  change  his  ministers,  to 
establish  a  new  constitution,  and  to  create  a  parlia- 
ment.    Arabi  Pasha  himself  became  Minister  of  War. 

The  rebellion  spread  to  Alexandria,  where  the  Eng- 
lish consul  was  severely  wounded  and  many  European 
citizens  murdered,  whereupon  the  English  navy  bom- 
barded the  city.  Arabi  Pasha  was  forced  to  resign, 
but,  being  supported  by  the  army,  he  continued  to  rule 
the  land.  England  sent  an  expedition  against  him  un- 
der General  Wolseley,  defeating  him,  making  him  a 
prisoner,  and  sending  him  to  Ceylon. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       67 

The  occupation  by  the  British  of  Egypt  caused  ill 
feeling  on  the  part  of  the  Turks,  as  the  Sultan  desired 
to  reclaim  this  lost  dominion.  The  feeling  against 
English  encroachments  on  what  was  considered  Turk- 
ish territory  did  not  diminish  and  it  furnished  an  ex- 
cuse for  a  more  stringent  government  in  some  of  the 
other  provinces.  Immediately  consequent  to  the  trouble 
hi  Egypt,  followed  the  rise  of  the  Matidi  in  Soudan. 
This  revolt  on  the  part  of  the  Arabs  was  directed 
against  the  Sultan,  as  the  Arabs  had  become  jealous 
of  the  position  held  by  the  Sultans  as  Caliphs  of  the 
Moslem  world. 

El  Mahdi  was  successful  in  defeating  four  Egyptian 
expeditions  sent  against  him  and  captured  Khartoum, 
killing  General  Gordon,  the  famous  English  leader. 
This  added  considerable  force  to  the  determination  of 
Mohammed  II.  to  identify  himself  still  more  closely 
with  the  distinctively  Moslem  element  in  his  empire 
His  principle,  therefore,  was  to  satisfy  the  Moham- 
medans and  to  hold  strict  rule  over  the  other  sects  in 
his  domain,  accordingly,  he  commenced  a  systematic 
course  of  developing  the  Moslem  power  and  prestige  at 
the  expense  of  the  Christians. 

The  feeling  of  hatred,  and  the  continued  oppression 
directed  toward  the  Christians,  naturally  caused  a  de- 
sire for  freedom  on  the  part  of  the  oppressed.  The 
Armenians  were  making  every  effort  to  secure  an  in- 
dependent government  for  Armenia,  such  as  Bulgaria, 
Roumania,  and  other  provinces  had  secured.  The  young 
Armenians  who  had  been  educated  in  the  schools  of 


68  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

Germany  and  France  had  become  acquainted  with  the 
stories  that  marked  the  revolutionary  period  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Lacking,  however,  the  substantial 
basis  for  careful  investigation,  they  sought  to  kindle 
a  flame  in  the  hearts  of  their  fellow-countrymen  against 
the  Turkish  oppression  and  to  gain  the  sympathy  of 
the  great  Powers  of  Europe.  This  for  a  long  time  they 
failed  to  do.  Finally,  being  unable  to  endure  longer  the 
heaped-up  insults  and  atrocities  of  the  Kurds,  who  had 
harassed  them  for  years,  the  prosperous  Armenians 
concluded  that  some  decided  act  must  be  done  by  them- 
selves to  gain  the  attention  they  desired.  Consequently, 
hundreds  of  placards  were  posted  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  denouncing  the  Turkish  government.  Ar- 
rests soon  followed,  and  at  trials,  tortures  of  the  most 
atrocious  kind  were  used  to  extort  confession  of  guilt 
against  others.  Then  there  came  the  terrible  massacre 
of  Sassun,  situated  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  the  Asiatic  border.  It  is  claimed  that  before 
hostilities  could  be  coped  with,  thirty-five  thousand 
Armenians  were  killed.  Turkish  Armenia  is  about  the 
size  of  the  state  of  Iowa,  having  an  area  of  60,000 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  about  six  hundred 
thousand  Armenians,  which  number  is  greatly  sur- 
passed by  the  Turks  within  the  state.  The  remainder 
of  Armenians  are  scattered  all  over  the  empire,  which 
makes  any  united  action  for  self-government  almost 
impossible. 

Ancient  Armenia  has  varied  in  extent  at  different 
times,  even  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea  dur- 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       69 

ing  the  Crusades.  It  included  the  southern  Caucasus, 
which  now  contains  a  large,  growing,  prosperous,  and 
happy  Armenian  population  under  the  Czar. 

We  can  not  here  attempt  a  discussion  of  the  Ar- 
menian question,  beyond  a  bare  reference  to  its  possi- 
ble solution,  which  is  threefold.  First,  Russian  an- 
nexation, for  which  the  Armenians  themselves  are 
praying,  and  which  Russia  is  prepared  to  execute  at  a 
moment's  notice ;  second,  Armenian  independence  like 
that  of  Bulgaria,  which,  as  has  been  shown,  is  an  im- 
possibility. The  other  method  is  radical  and  vigorous 
administrative  reforms,  which  the  Powers  of  Europe 
can,  if  they  will,  initiate. 

Asiatic  Turkey  comprises  a  heterogeneous  popula- 
tion of  different  races.  Of  the  Turks  there  are  the 
Osmanlis  and  Turkomans.  Then  there  are  Sclavs, 
Romans,  Arnauts,  Syrians,  Greeks,  Armenians,  Jews, 
Arabs,  Druses,  Gypsies,  Tartars,  Circassians,  Kopts, 
Nubians,  Berbers,  etc.  Of  these,  the  Greeks  and  Ar- 
menians are  traders.  The  Turkomans  and  Kurds  are 
herdsmen  and  nomads.  The  Sclavs,,Romans,  and  Al- 
banians are  the  chief  agriculturists  in  Europe  as  are 
the  Osmanlis,  Armenians,  Syrians,  and  Druses  in 
Asia. 

Scutari,  which  is  across  the  Bosphorus  and  in  Asia, 
was  the  location  of  the  hospitals  during  the  Crimean 
War.  It  is  from  Scutari  that  the  caravans  depart  for 
the  desert.  Here  there  is  a  picturesque  object  called 
Leander's  Tower,  or  the  Maiden's  Tower,  which  has 
a  legend  attached  to  it.    According  to  this  legend,  one 


70  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

of  the  Sultans  had  a  lovely  little  daughter,  of  whom  he 
was  so  fond  that  he  was  anxious  to  know  what  the 
Fates  had  in  store  for  her  in  the  future.  By  means  of 
astrology,  the  child's  nativity  was  cast ;  and  the  reply 
was,  that,  if  she  survived  her  sixteenth  birthday,  her 
life  would  be  long  and  happy.  But  she  must  beware 
of  all  serpents.  The  Sultan  accordingly  caused  a  tower 
to  be  erected,  in  which  was  centered  everything  that 
could  be  procured  for  her  pleasure  and  comfort,  and 
she  was  placed  within  it,  not  to  leave  until  the  time  was 
fully  passed. 

The  eventful  day  arrived,  the  fair  princess  was 
dressed  handsomely,  awaiting  her  father's  coming,  who 
was  to  release  his  child  from  the  prison  in  which  pa- 
ternal love  had  placed  her.  She  was  looking  for  the 
Sultan  when  she  saw  a  small  basket  covered  with  fresh 
leaves,  standing  on  a  ledge  which  surrounded  a  pretty 
garden  that  had  been  contrived  for  her,  such  offerings 
being  common  among  people  who  felt  an  interest  in 
her  fate.  With  girlish  pleasure  she  ran  to  fetch  the 
gift,  and,  reaching  it,  sat  down  to  examine  its  con- 
tents. When  the  Sultan  came,  he  rushed  up,  surprised 
at  not  being  met  by  the  princess — and  found  her  ar- 
rayed for  the  occasion,  but  seemingly  asleep.  He 
called  to  her,  "My  child !  "  No  answer.  An  asp  that 
dropped  from  the  basket  revealed  that  hers  was  the 
sleep  of  death.  The  serpent  had  been  concealed  among 
the  flowers. 

In  Scutari,  too,  one  sees  at  their  best  the  dancing 
and  howling  dervishes.     To  see  thirty-four  of  these 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       71 

strange  fanatics  of  different  sizes,  ages,  and  degrees  of 
corpulence  whirling  about  in  a  sort  of  waltzing  step, 
which  their  bare  feet  perform  skilfully  to  the  sound  of 
the  music  of  a  reed  flute,  is  certainly  a  strange  exhibi- 
tion, particularly  when  one  reflects  that  it  is  all  done 
in  the  interests  of  religion.  With  the  howling  dervishes 
the  process  consists  of  fierce  invocations,  heard  in  the 
midst  of  thick,  stifling  incense,  with  quaint,  wild  ejacu- 
lations of  "Oh,  Mediator!"  "Oh,  Beloved!"  "Oh, 
Advocate!"  "In  the  day  of  judgment,"  etc.  This 
program  sounds  strange  enough,  and  much  unlike  the 
performance  of  human  beings ;  and  at  length  the  der- 
vishes howl  out  their  "La  Mali — illah  la!"  as  if  they 
were  turning  into  wolves ;  while  the  motion  of  bending 
and  gesticulating,  which  is  performed  to  music  at  the 
same  time,  becomes  mechanical  and  sometimes  almost 
epileptic. 

Life  among  these  Turks  is  very  much  the  same  that 
it  is  in  other  oriental  lands,  or  rather  the  lands  of  the 
Near  East.  In  Turkey,  as  in  Persia  and  all  lands  of 
the  Mohammedan  religion,  the  men  are  allowed  several 
wives,  and  a  great  part  of  their  time  is  devoted  to  their 
harems.  It  is  said  that  the  Turkish  women  in  general 
are  very  fond  of  harem  life,  on  account  of  the  care 
they  receive,  and  the  beautiful  clothes  lavished  upon 
them.  We  can  readily  see  how  this  is  true,  for  they 
have  always  been  accustomed  to  this  sort  of  life  and 
been  taught  to  believe  that  they  have  no  souls  and  that 
there  is  no  future  life  for  them.  This  theory  is  said 
to  have  an  effect  both  ways.     The  men,  believing  this, 


72  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

try  to  give  the  women  of  their  harems  as  happy  lives 
as  possible,  and  the  women,  having  been  taught  this, 
think  it  encumbent  upon  them  "to  gather  the  roses 
while  they  may,"  and  they  enter  into  complete  enjoy- 
ment of  sensual  and  luxurious  pleasures.  There  are 
exceptions,  however,  and  there  are  noble  women  in 
the  harems  as  well  as  elsewhere ;  and  what  the  women 
have  done  to  bring  about  recent  political  reforms,  we 
shall  show  before  we  have  finished  with  Turkey. 

The  Turkish  merchants  are  a  picturesque  feature 
in  Turkish  life.  The  shop-keepers  all  sit  upon  their 
platform  counters  robed  and  turbaned,  looking  as  if 
they  had  been  acting  stories  from  "  The  Arabian 
Nights"  in  private  theatricals  the  night  before,  and  had 
not  yet  had  time  to  change  their  clothes.  They  are 
always  sitting  cross-legged,  generally  smoking  and 
half-dozing.  Donkeys  pass  and  bump  up  against  the 
door-post,  thieves  run  by  pursued  by  angry  soldiers 
with  drawn  and  flashing  sabres,  the  "Sick  Man"  him- 
self rides  past,  sad  and  hopeless,  with  the  ambassador 
at  'his  elbow ;  but  nothing  moves  the  calm  self-possessed 
shop-keeper,  in  his  white  and  green  turban. 

Up  to  a  very  recent  time,  one  of  the  great  hin- 
drances to  improvement  in  the  condition  of  women  has 
been  the  importation  of  Circassian  slaves.  Instead  of 
Turkish  gentlemen  intermarrying  with  the  daughters 
of  families  of  their  own  class,  an  influx  of  strange 
wives  perpetually  took  place,  who  had  no  fathers  and 
brothers  on  the  spot  to  take  an  interest  in  their  wel- 
fare.    In  Christian  civilizations,  the  intermarriage  of 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  OTTOMANS       73 

families  is  the  great  cement  which  binds  society  to- 
gether, causes  men  to  help  one  another,  and  to  love 
and  protect  not  only  sons,  but  nephews,  cousins,  and 
daughters"  children.  When  a  man  brings  a  strange 
slave-wife,  none  of  this  takes  place.  This  practice, 
however,  has  been  abolished  throughout  the  empire, 
and  Turkish  men  now  marry  out  of  families  of  their 
own  rank  and  nationality.  Although  this  custom  has 
been  in  practice  hardly  more  than  three  decades,  its 
influence  for  better  things  is  already  observable. 

Not  to  Turkey  can  any  one  look  for  aught  that  is 
great  in  literature,  science,  or  art.  In  rqjlitary  cour- 
age and  capacity  she  has  shown  herself  never  to  have 
been  deficient ;  but  when  we  have  said  this,  we  have 
said  all.  While  other  countries  near  her,  especially  in 
Europe,  have  been  pressing  onward  in  civilization,  she 
has  remained  stationary,  indeed  rather  retrogressive 
than  otherwise.  The  barbaric  character  of  the  Oriental 
has  been  manifest  throughout  all  her  history.  But 
there  is  hope.  Already  the  organization  known  as  the 
Young  Turks  has  done  wonders,  and,  if  Japan  accom- 
plished great  things  in  thirty  years,  we  may  look  for 
some  progress  for  Turkey.  It  is  safe  to  prognosticate 
that  a  quarter  of  a  century  hence,  Turkey  will  have 
forged  far  to  the  front  in  her  march  out  into  the  light 
of  civilization  and  will  have  taken  a  respectable  place 
among  the  other  nations  of  the  world/ 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY 

HOW  could  a  country  like  Turkey  change  in  a  day 
from  absolutism  to  a  constitutional  monarchy 
without  shedding  a  drop  of  blood  ?  Who  are  the  lead- 
ers who  have  effected  this  change,  and  what  is  the 
change?  What  really  is  the  constitution  of  which  we 
hear  so  much? 

Even  Turkey  has  had  its  heroes  of  freedom,  and 
the  greatest  and  noblest  of  these  was  the  author  of  the 
constitution,  framed  in  1876,  which  the  Sultan  was 
forced  to  pledge  himself  to  execute  in  the  last  week 
of  July,  1908.  This  constitution  was  the  Midhat  con- 
stitution. It  was  for  this  constitution  that  Midhat 
Pasha,  Abdul  Hamid's  first  Grand  Vizier,  was  ban- 
ished from  Turkey.  And  finally  Midhat  was  a  martyr 
to  his  constitution,  having  been  put  to  death  in  the 
fortress  of  Taif  by  the  Sultan's  order  on  May  12, 
1883. 

The  old,  musty  document  of  more  than  thirty  years 
of  age  was,  with  its  author,  the  embodiment  of  the 
spirit  of  the  "Young  Turks"  and  the  Committee  of 
"Union  and  Progress."  Midhat,  in  his  struggle  for 
the  promulgation  of  his  constitution  and  the  welfare 
of  Turkey,  made  and  unmade  Sultans.  First  he  de- 
posed the   Sultan  Abdul   Aziz,   whose   degradation  of 

74 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  75 

Turkey  has  been  surpassed  only  by  that  of  Abdul 
Hamid.  He  placed  on  the  throne  Murad  V.,  Abdul 
Hamid's  elder  brother.  Murad,  it  is  claimed,  was  in- 
sane, and  Midhat  put  Abdul  Hamid  in  his  place, 
pledged  to  promulgate  the  constitution  and  with  the 
understanding  that  if  Murad  recovered  his  mind  he 
should  recover  his  throne.  But  Abdul  Hamid  kept 
Murad  off  the  throne,  buried  Midhat's  constitution, 
and  destroyed  its  author. 

Around  Murad  V.  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  ever 
since  around  Abdul  Hamid's  younger  brother  Reschad 
for  Sultan,  have  rallied  the  heirs  and  party  of  Mid- 
hat,  which  are  the  Young  Turks.  The  recent  triumph 
was  therefore  that  of  the  followers  of  Midhat,  though 
in  Turkey  any  one  who  acknowledged  that  he  was  a 
partisan  or  friend  of  Midhat  was  either  banished  or 
imprisoned  or  assassinated,  for  no  man  did  the  Sultan 
hate  and  fear  so  much  as  he  did  Midhat  Pasha.  But 
the  founder  of  the  Turkish  constitution,  we  are  told 
in  the  Ottoman  journals,  was  revered  and  honored  by 
every  honest,  patriotic  Turk. 

Thirty-two  years  ago,  when  Abdul  Hamid  came  to 
the  throne,  Midhat  was  the  idol  of  the  Young  Turks, 
and  especially  the  softas,  or  university  students.  Al- 
most every  Turk  who  was  banished  for  any  cause  to 
the  great  cities  of  Europe  at  once  became  an  adherent 
of  the  cause  of  Midhat,  and  within  the  last  ten  years 
there  has  grown  up  a  chain  of  committees  reaching 
from  London  to  Salonika.  In  some  places  it  was  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  and  in  other  places 


76  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

it  was  the  Young  Turks,  but  the  two  parties  always 
affiliated.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these  com- 
mittees of  Young  Turks  is  that  of  Union  and  Prog- 
ress in  Paris,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  young 
Prince  Sabaheddin,  a  near  relative  of  the  Sultan.  The 
work  of  the  committee  has  been  in  two  directions, — ■ 
to  publish  literature  advocating  the  cause  of  freedom 
in  Turkey  and  to  harmonize  Christian  and  Moham- 
medan in  the  empire. 

The  journals  of  Turkey  are  naturally  jubilant. 
El  Lewa,  of  Cairo,  Egypt,  one  of  the  most  important 
and  influential  of  the  Pan-Islamic  journals,  says,  in 
its  leading  editorial,  Aug.  7,  1909: 

When  the  constitution  was  proclaimed  in  the  Ot- 
toman Empire,  the  birthplace  of  the  warriors  and 
heroes,  there  flashed  out  of  the  darkness  a  light,  a 
new  divine  assistance,  which  guarantees  the  peace 
and  safety  of  the  race  and  which  restores  to  the 
Ottoman  Empire  its  power  and  glory.  We  congratu- 
late those  who  at  the  risk  of  their  homes  and  lives 
struggled  in  silence  and  secrecy  for  freedom  and  in- 
dependence because  of  their  faith  in  eternal  justice. 
At  last  they  have  dispelled  the  thick  mist  that  has 
so  long  surrounded  them,  overcome  all  opposition  and 
removed  every  obstacle  from  their  path,  but  even 
more  do  we  congratulate  those  heroes  who  were  ex- 
iled and  lived  away  from  their  fatherland  in  a  con- 
dition of  misery  at  times  so  pathetic  that  it  would  have 
melted  a  stone,  they  who  have  tasted  the  bitterness  of 
hunger  and  fear  and  were  encompassed  by  spies  and 
dogged  by  the  hounds  of  a  ruthless  government,  and 
they  who  were  herded  together  in  prisons  and  subjected 
to  nameless  tortures,  yet  their  hearts  were  not  filled 
with  terror,  nor  their  cries  for  freedom  silenced.    We 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  77 

congratulate  individually  and  collectively  all  the  heroes 
and  patriots  of  Ottoman  freedom,  for  they  have  given 
the  civilized  world  a  lesson  in  prowess  and  progress 
and  taught  it  how  to  place  the  principles  of  human 
equality  above  all  quarrels  of  race,  creed,  and  color. 

The  press  at  Constantinople  is  agitating  the  matter 
of  erecting  before  the  Parliament  building,  that  the 
Sultan  now  proposes  to  build,  a  statue  of  the  late 
Midhat  Pasha.  This  agitation  is  being  taken  up  by 
the  friends  of  the  Pasha  and  his  followers,  the  Young 
Turks. 

Although  the  revolution  in  Turkey  was  initiated 
in  peace  and  has  been  called  the  "Bloodless  Revolu- 
tion,'' the  events  of  the  weeks  that  followed  brought 
their  baptism  of  blood.  It  was  hardly  to  be  expected 
that  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  should  accept  quietly  the 
deprivation  of  absolute  authority.  There  were  others 
also  who  were  strongly  opposed  to  the  domination  of 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress.  The  Liberal 
Union  Committee,  representing  the  Greeks,  some  non- 
Turkish  Moslems  and  certain  of  the  old  Turks  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  new  government,  abused  and  op- 
posed the  other  committee  in  every  way  possible. 
Kiamil  Pasha  was  a  leader  in  this  opposition.  These 
elements  with  the  secret  aid  of  the  Sultan  sowed  the 
seed  of  revolt  among  the  soldiers.  It  was  easy  to 
appeal  to  their  Moslem  fanaticism  and  persuade  them 
their  religion  was  in  danger.  Hence  the  mutiny  of 
April  12,  1909,  and  the  demand  for  a  change  in  the 
offices  of  grand  vizier,  minister  of  war  and  president 


78  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

of  the  chamber.  Animosity  against  the  members  of 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  was  specially 
manifested,  Refik  Pasha,  Minister  of  Justice,  being 
killed  and  Arif  Bey,  commander  of  the  cruiser  "Assari 
Tewfik,"  lynched  for  ordering  the  guns  of  his  ship 
trained  on  the  Yildiz  Kiosk  in  order  to  subdue  the 
mutineers.  The  Chamber  of  Deputies  was  unable 
to  muster  a  quorum,  the  members  being  apparently 
too  terrified  to  fulfill  their  duties.  For  two  days  the 
First  Army  Corps,  to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand, 
held  control  of  Constantinople.  Tewfik  Pasha  was 
appointed  grand  vizier  by  the  Sultan.  Salonika,  the 
location  of  the  Third  Army  Corps,  was  the  starting 
point  of  the  revolution,  and  the  soldiers  there  promptly 
prepared  to  advance  on  the  capital,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Enver  Bey.  As  they  approached  Constanti- 
nople the  strength  of  their  party  was  evident  by  the 
effect  produced  on  the  reactionaries  who  made  en- 
deavors to  conciliate  them.  The  Parliament,  which 
had  adjourned  to  San  Stefano  and  was  holding  its 
sittings  there,  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  that  the 
advance  of  the  army  was  in  accordance  with  the  as- 
pirations of  the  nation,  and  a$y  opposition  would  be 
severely  punished.  The  movements  of  the  investing 
army  were  well  organized  and  on  April  24  it  entered 
Constantinople.  Tewfik  Pasha  and  his  cabinet  at  once 
offered  their  resignations,  and  Nazim  Pasha,  in 
charge  of  the  troops  within  the  city,  cooperated  with 
the  leaders  to  avoid  a  conflict.  For  several  days  there- 
after the   soldiers   deserted   the   garrison   and   joined 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  79 

the  armv,  which  consisted  of  Turks,  Greeks,  Alban- 
ian.-, Bulgarians,  Moslems,  and  Christians,  all  fight- 
ing for  a  common  cause.  The  only  serious  resistance 
was  from  Salonikan  chasseurs,  who  formed  the  Sul- 
tan's body-guard  and  had  presumably  been  bribed. 
They  had  been  appointed  by  the  Young  Turks  party 
and  were  regarded  as  traitors.  Their  barracks  were 
finally  captured  and  those  who  refused  to  surrender 
were  shot.  The  garrison  in  Scutari,  numbering  four 
thousand  men,  also  refused  to  capitulate,  and  threaten- 
ed to  bombard  the  city,  but  sixty  big  guns  placed  in 
position  had  a  subduing  effect  and  the  garrison  was 
disarmed.  The  Sultan  gave  ^express  orders  that  no 
defense  of  his  palace,  Yildiz  Kiosk,  should  be  made. 
On  April  27,  Abdul  Hamid,  II,  was  deposed  and 
his  brother,  Mohammed  Effendi,  made  Sultan  under 
the  title  Mehmed  V.  Since  his  appointment  by  Par- 
liament he  has  continued  to  live  at  the  Dolmabagtche 
Palace  on  the  Bosphorus — where  he  was  so  long  vir- 
tually kept  a  prisoner  by  Abdul  Hamid,  without  whose 
permission  he  was  not  permitted  to  leave  the  grounds. 
According  to  the  Mussulman  law  he  is  legally  the 
successor  to  the  throne  of  Turkey,  and  his  election 
was  therefore  approved  by  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  the 
head  of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  The  decree  of  depo- 
sition read  before  the  National  Assembly  by  this  dig- 
nitary declared  that  Abdul  1  lamid's  acts  were  con- 
trary to  the  Sacred  Law.  The  new  ruler  took  the 
oath  at  the  \Yar  Office  and  then  went  to  the  Parlia- 
ment  House.      Chefket    Pasha,    who   commanded   the 


80  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

troops  in  their  advance  on  the  capital,  won  general 
approval  by  his  conduct  of  affairs  after  arrival  there. 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  mutineers  were  court-martialed 
and  executed,  and  Nadir  Pasha,  intimate  adviser 
of  the  ex-Sultan,  was  hung'  on  the  Galata  Bridge. 
Abdul  Ilamid,  on  being  informed  of  the  decree  of 
deposition,  begged  for  his  life  and  asked  that  he  and 
his  family  be  permitted  to  retire  to  the  Cheraghan 
Palace,  where  he  was  born.  The  Young  Turk  leaders, 
however,  considered  it  wise  to  convey  him  to  Salon- 
ika, where,  with  eleven  of  his  wives,  a  son,  and  two 
daughters,  he  is  housed  in  a  large  dwelling  with  high- 
walled  grounds. 

On  May  10  occurred  the  coronation  of  Mehmed 
V.  In  a  small  mosque,  attached  to  the  Ayoub  Mosque, 
the  sword  of  Osman  was  girded  upon  the  Sultan  amid 
the  chants  of  priests  and  with  solemn  ceremony.  For 
the  first  time  Christians  were  admitted  to  the  mosque 
and  allowed  to  witness  the  event.  An  American  and 
an  Englishman,  both  in  the  Turkish  service,  were 
present.  After  this  immemorial  rite  was  performed, 
the  Sultan,  attended  by  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  the  grand 
vizier,  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  the  chiefs  of  the 
army,  and  the  two  higher  grades  of  Ulemas,  drove 
to  the  Top  Kapou  Palace,  to  kiss  the  robes  of  the 
Prophet.  The  day's  ceremonies  were  completed  by  the 
plowing  of  a  furrow  by  Mehmed  V.  on  the  lawn  of 
his  palace.  It  is  an  ancient  test  of  soundness  of  body 
and  taken  to  indicate  his  fitness  to  bear  the  burdens 
of  empire.     As  the  act  consisted  of  holding  the  plow 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  81 

handles  for  a  moment  while  two  horses  dragged  the 
plow  a  few  yards,  the  test  was  simply  symbolical. 
The  combination  of  Eastern  and  Western  customs 
in  the  coronation  proceedings  was  notable.  After  the 
sword  of  Osman  had  been  girded  on  the  sovereign, 
there  was  an  outburst  of  applause  from  the  people 
and  a  salute  from  die  troops,  while  a  chorus  of  boys 
chanted  Midhat  Pasha's  "Hymn  of  Liberty."  The 
Sultan  stood  upright  in  an  open  carriage  of  modern 
style,  made  in  Paris,  and  the  procession  back  to  the 
palace  was  led  by  an  armored  automobile  carrying  a 
machine  gun.  Mehmed  V.  is  said  to  be  the  first 
beardless  ruler  of  his  line,  wearing  only  a  pointed 
mustache.  He  is  also  the  first  Sultan  in  four  cen- 
turies who  has  had  blue  eyes  and  fair  hair.  He  was 
dressed  in  Western  uniform  of  olive  green  khaki.  He 
was  born  November  3,  1844,  and  is  two  years  younger 
than  Abdul  Hamid. 

The  new  Sultan,  who  ascends  the  throne  after  an 
imprisonment  in  a  palace  for  thirty  years,  is  in  his 
sixty-sixth  year,  and  the  third  son  of  Sultan  Abdul 
Medjid.  His  eldest  brother  reigned  as  Murad  V.. 
but  was  deposed  in  August,  1876,  on  the  ground  of 
insanity,  being  succeeded  by  Abdul  Hamid  II.  Re- 
shad  reigns  as  Mehmed  V.  Mehmed  is  short  for 
Mohammed,  it  being  considered  inappropriate  to  adopt 
the  Prophet's  precise  name.  The  new  Padishah, 
according  to  a  description  of  his  person,  which  is  no 
doubt  authentic,  is  tall  and  well-proportioiud,  but 
inclined  to  stoop.     His  features  are  regular,  but  he 


82  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

has  a  hooked  nose  like  that  of  Abdul  Hamid.  His 
manners  are  very  gracious  and  easy,  and  he  is  ex- 
ceedingly generous  and  kind.  He  is  not  at  all  fanat- 
ical, but  is  sincerely  religious.  He  has  two  wives  who 
are  well  educated  and  they  dress  in  the  French  fashion. 
Reshad  is  a  man  of  excellent  intentions,  but  rather 
weak  will,  who  has  passed  the  greater  part  of  his 
life  under  duress,  surrounded,  however,  by  the  enervat- 
ing influences  of  idleness,  luxury,  and  the  harem. 

Reshad  has,  notwithstanding  his  long  imprison- 
ment, kept  himself  in  touch  with  the  progressive  move- 
ments of  the  time  and  sees  nothing,  he  declares,  in- 
compatible between  political  freedom  and  the  sacred 
law  of  the  Mohammedans.  Shortly  after  his  being 
proclaimed  Sultan  he  expressed  himself  as  follows  to 
a  newspaper  correspondent : 

"I  am  pleased  to  become  the  first  constitutional 
sovereign  of  Turkey.  Doubtless  my  successor  will 
improve  upon  me,  but  you  may  rely  upon  my  doing 
my  best.  I  also  have  suffered  oppression,  and  can, 
therefore,  enter  into  the  feelings  of  my  fellow  sufferers. 
I  have  ever  been  a  convinced  and  ardent  supporter  of 
the  cause  of  enlightenment,  liberty,  and  progress. 
From  my  earliest  years,  while  faithful  to  the  precepts 
and  teachings  of  the  Koran,  I  have  been  an  advocate 
of  a  constitutional  charter  and  parliamentary  insti- 
tutions. I  am  a  firm  supporter  of  the  policy  of  Young 
Turkey,  and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  political  free- 
dom I  see  nothing  incompatible  with  Mohammedan 
sacred  law." 

The  part  that  the  Turkish  women  took  in  the 
revolution   was   a   surprise    to    the    civilized    world. 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  83 

Turkish  women  have  been  looked  upon  as  oppressed 
and  wretched  individuals,  secluded  in  harems,  devoid 
of  education  and  subjected  to  the  lust  and  cruelty  of 
their  husbands.  It  is  Mrs.  Kenneth  Brown,  before  her 
marriage  to  an  American  author  a  Greek  girl  born 
and  raised  in  Constantinople,  who  tells  us  that  they 
are  happier  than  American  women  and  that  the  better 
class  of  Turkish  women  are  of  higher  culture  and 
intellectual  development  than  their  American  sisters 
of  the  same  class.  And  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that 
this  condition  is  due  largely  to  the  education  they  have 
received  of  noble  American  women  who  have  been 
working  among  them  for  the  last  half  century.  Their 
higher  culture,  Mrs.  Brown  says,  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  they  have  had  more  leisure  than  American  women 
on  account  of  their  simpler  lives,  and  that  they  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  leisure  for  reading  and  study. 
They  are  deep  thinkers,  too,  and  very  practical.  More 
than  all  else  they  are  highly  esteemed  by  the  men  of 
the  nation  and  have  great  influence  over  them. 

It  was  on  account  of  this  latter  fact  that  the  Young 
Turks  realized  very  early  in  their  organization  that 
if  they  were  going  to  make  a  success  of  their  plans, 
they  must  enlist  the  cooperation  of  the  Turkish  women. 
One  of  the  foremost  of  these  women  is  Refeka 
llanoum,  daughter  of  Kiamal  Pasha,  now  about  fifty 
years  old.  She  was  born  wealthy  and  the  daughter 
of  a  powerful  pasha,  and  "life  might  have  held  for 
her  the  fortunate  lot  of  wifehood  and  motherhood, 
had  she  so  desired.     But  at  the  age  of  eighteen  the 


84  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

young  hanoum  announced  to  her  father  that  she  would 
not  marry,  but  would  study  and  devote  herself  to 
helping  uplift  the  women  of  her  race."  And  how 
well  she  has  done  this  only  those  who  have  lived  with 
her  and  seen  the  results  of  her  efforts  can  tell.  She 
was  the  first  woman  to  be  enlisted  in  the  cause  of 
the  Young  Turks.  In  her  interview  with  Mrs.  Brown 
she  said  that  the  women  were  taught,  before  they 
were  given  important  work  to  do,  political  economy, 
the  natural  resources  of  their  country,  the  history  of 
other  nations,  and  what  it  would  mean  to  have  a  con- 
stitution and  a  free  press.  One  of  the  women  early 
interested  in  the  cause  was  a  sister  of  the  Sultan,  who 
had  been  a  pupil  of  Refeka  Hanoum.  Once  having 
gained  her  there  were  many  more  adherents  in  the 
Padishah's  very  harem.  It  was  necessary  to  win 
over  the  army,  and  in  this  task  the  women  were  the 
most  active.  Letters  and  important  documents  were 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  and  from  harem  to  harem 
until  they  finally  reached  the  one  for  whom  they  were 
intended.  For  this  and  some  other  tasks  the  beauties 
of  the  harems  were  indispensable.  Refeka  Hanoum 
says  that  "there  was  in  the  palace  a  Circassian  of 
extraordinary  beauty  whose  charm  was  so  great  that 
everyone  felt  it.  She  had  to  sacrifice  her  reputation 
to  the  cause,  and  if  there  were  saints  in  the  Moham- 
medan religion  she  would  be  canonized.  All  the 
difficult  tasks  inside  the  palace  were  entrusted  to  her, 
and  thus  she  was  supposed  to  change  lovers  as  the 
year  changes  months.     If  we  had  chosen  a  less  beauti- 


REGENERATION   OF  TURKEY  85 

ful  woman/'  said  Refeka  Hanoum,  "the  usurper  might 
have  become  suspicious ;  but  a  woman  with  her  beauty 
can  easily  be  supposed  to  entrap  men ;  and  thus  he 
only  smiles  when  he  hears  that  another  has  fallen  a 
victim  to  her  charms.  Perhaps  some  day  he  will  find 
out  the  truth,  and  she  will  die  suddenly.'' 

Shortly  after  Refeka  Hanoum  spoke  these  prophetic 
words,  the  newspapers  recorded  the  murder  in  the 
Sultan's  harem  of  a  beautiful  Circassian  odalesque. 
The  story  is  as  follows : 

There  was  a  Circassian  of  great  beauty  who  had, 
as  an  inmate  of  the  royal  harem,  gained  such  favor 
with  the  Sultan  that  she  was  allowed  to  enter  the 
Sultan's  apartments  unannounced. 

One  evening  she  entered  as  usual,  and  finding 
His  Majesty  asleep,  she  examined  the  various  bric-a- 
brac  scattered  here  and  there,  her  attention  being  par- 
ticularly called  to  a  jewelled  pistol  lying  on  a  table. 
At  this  point  the  Sultan  suddenly  opened  his  eyes 
and  asked  with  apparent  calm,  "What  are  you  doing?" 

"Nothing,  your  Majesty,"  replied  the  girl. 

"But  you  are  looking  at  something." 

"Yes,  sire — it  is  so  pretty — this." 

"And  what  do  you  call  that  object?" 

"A  pistol,"  answered  the  favorite. 

"And  what  is  a  pistol  used  for?" 

"To  kill,  sire,"  replied  the  Circassian  in  a  trembling 
voice. 

"To  kill?  Let  me  see,"  and  picking  up  another 
pistol  he  fired  three  times  fatally  injuring  the  inno- 
cent girl. 

The  officer  who  told  this  story  was  on  duty  in 
the  corridor  when  the  girl's  body  covered  with  a 
rug  was  silently  carried  through  the  doors. 


86  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

On  being  asked  how  it  was  possible  to  send  women 
into  the  various  harems  to  carry  on  the  work,  the 
reply  was  that  they  were  sold  as  slaves,  and  when  their 
work  was  done  they  were  bought  back  again.  Some- 
times these  slaves  are  the  wives  and  daughters  of 
rich  and  powerful  men.  "This  is  the  work  that  women 
have  done  for  the  Young  Turks,"  said  Refeka 
Hanoum.  "When  they  shall  be  strong  enough  to 
act,  Turkey  will  astonish  the  world."  In  view  of 
recent  events,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Refeka  Hanoum 
spoke  truly/ 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHAT   AMERICAN   EDUCATION   IS   DOING   FOR  TURKEY 

ALTHOUGH  there  is  no  public  school  system  in 
Turkey,  there  are  nearly  forty  thousand  schools 
in  the  Empire  and  probably  a  million  and  a  half  boys 
and  girls  are  attending  those  schools.  The  curriculum 
is  not  very  advanced,  yet  these  schools  are  all  over 
Asia  Minor  and  in  European  Turkey  as  well ;  in  little 
villages  hundreds  of  miles  from  a  railway  they  may 
be  found.  Although  the  system  is  not  advanced,  these 
schorls  have  been  advancing,  and  the  boy  who  goes 
to  school  has  pushed  against  the  door  that  opens  into 
the  twentieth  century. 

And  now  1  venture  to  speak  of  the  college  with 
which  I  happen  to  be  connected  as  a  type  of  the  higher 
schools  and  institutions  that  are  scattered  in  various 
place-  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  I  wish  I  might  speak 
at  length  of  other  institutions.  I  wish  I  might  speak 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  institutions  and  of  the  work 
that  is  being  done  by  them,  but  space  does  not  permit. 
I  speak  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  because  it 
is  a  type  of  the  American  College  in  the  Turkish 
Empire.  These  colleges  are  the  best  influences,  I 
believe  in  the  important  work  of  the  enlightenment 
of  the  people.  There  is  such  a  college  at  Aintab,  one 
at  Anatolia,  one  at  Harput,  one  at  Smyrna,  one  at 
Marsovan,  another  at  Tarsus,  and  Robert  College  at 

87 


88  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

Constantinople.  There  is  also  the  Woman's  College 
at  Constantinople.  These  colleges  were  established  by 
Americans  in  order  that  the  people  of  Turkey  might 
have  the  blessings  and  advantages  that  we  have 
received. 

And  now  I  am  going  to  take  you  a  moment  right 
to  Beirut — that  city  which  to  me  is  the  most  beauti- 
ful city  in  the  world — and  into  that  chapel  where  all 
the  students  are  gathered  together.  On  the  platform 
are  assembled  seventy  of  our  professors  and  instruct- 
ors. There  are  many  races  represented  by  the  pro- 
fessors, although  a  plurality  of  the  force  is  American. 
Here  in  front  of  us  are  eight  or  nine  hundred  students. 
On  the  right  are  the  students  from  the  School  of 
Medicine.  Here  in  the  center  are  the  students  who 
are  studying  for  the  degree  of  B.  A. ;  on  the  left  are 
to  be  seen  the  students  of  the  School  of  Commerce 
and  the  School  of  Pharmacy ;  then  toward  the  back 
of  the  building  are  those  pupils  who  are  in  the  pre- 
paratory department.  You  would  be  rather  disap- 
pointed when  you  first  saw  these  students.  You 
would  expect  to  see  something  more  picturesque,  for, 
unfortunately,  instead  of  retaining  their  native  cos- 
tumes, these  men  will  persist  in  adopting  our  tin- 
picturesque  clothing;  but  when  you  come  to  ask 
where  these  men  come  from  and  who  they  are,  you 
realize  immediately  how  it  is  that  these  institutions 
and  schools  are  such  important  factors  in  overcoming 
all  those  antagonisms  of  which  we  hear  so  much.  You 
might    think    they    are    all    Protestants,    whereas    the 


WHAT  AMERICAN*  EDUCATION  IS  DOING     89 

Protestants  contribute  but  a  mere  handful  of  them. 
There  arc  over  a  hundred  Moslems,  nearly  a  hundred 
Jews,  a  hundred  are  Greek,  fifteen  or  twenty  come 
from  Persia,  several  from  India,  a  group  comes  from 
Bulgaria,  and  one  comes  from  the  Desert  of  Gobi. 
Two  hundred  and  fourteen  cities,  towns,  and  villages 
are  represented  in  this  Protestant  College  in  Syria. 
Now  when  the  forces  that  are  at  work  in  these  cities, 
towns,  and  villages  are  touched  by  the  forces  that  are 
represented  by  men  who  have  had  but  a  year's  study, 
or  four  years,  or  perhaps  ten  years  of  study  in  the 
college,  we  begin  to  appreciate  the  power  that  lies 
in  such  an  institution. 

Then  the  religious  problem  is  still  more  interest- 
ing. You  see  this  is  a  Christian  college.  It  is  a 
Christian  college  in  the  same  sense  as  our  Ameri- 
can colleges  are  Christian.  We  are  here  to  share 
with  the  youth  of  all  races  and  all  religions  in 
the  Christian  ideal.  We  are  not  here  to  proselyte 
but  to  share  the  best  influences  that  have  come  to 
us.  the  best  things  in  the  laboratory,  the  best  things 
in  the  class-rooms,  the  best  things  in  the  religious 
forces  that  we  ourselves  have  enjoyed.  Those  young 
Moslems  are  proud  men.  and  they  stand  for  their 
religion  as  a  great  religion  and  you  must  not  sneer  at 
this  religion.  The  way  in  which  to  overcome  Islam 
is  to  fulfill  the  great  principle  of  the  founder  of 
Christianity,  when  He  said,  "I  come  not  to  destroy, 
but  to  fulfill."  Besides,  we  do  not  understand  their 
religion,  and,  as  Moncure  Conway  has  said,  in  writing 


90  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

of  the  religions  of  the  East,  "We  have  no  right  to 
attempt  to  destroy  what  we  do  not  understand." 

A  natural  question  is,  what  becomes  of  our  gradu- 
ates. It  is  easy  enough  to  gather  men  together  with 
the  cry  education  and  the  twentieth  century,  but  the 
question  you  are  asking  may  well  be  this:  "How  do 
you  hold  them  and  how  do  you  send  them  forth?" 
Eighteen  hundred  have  gone  forth  in  the  history  of 
this  college  bearing  diplomas  or  certificates  of  various 
kinds,  that  of  Doctor  and  Surgeon,  that  of  Master  of 
Pharmacy,  that  of  Bachelor  of  Sciences  and  Bachelor 
of  Arts.  They  become  the  doctors  of  Asia  Minor; 
they  become  the  doctors  of  Sudan  as  far  as  the 
equator;  they  become  the  doctors  of  Egypt;  they  be- 
come lawyers  and  teachers  and  preachers.  These 
eighteen  hundred  are  but  a  small  proportion  of  the 
students  who  attend  the  college;  very  many  of  them 
leave  before  the  end  of  the  course  or  a  degree  has 
been  received.  But  remember  that  eight  or  nine 
colleges  in  Turkey  are  doing  the  same  kind  of  work 
as  ours.  You  can  imagine  that  wherever  a  graduate 
is  found  there  is  a  new  light  illuminating  the  region 
round  about  him ;  that  there  is  emanating  from  that 
lawyer's  office,  or  doctor's  office,  or  preacher's  house 
a  force  that  is  making  for  civilization — those  centripe- 
tal forces  that  overcome  the  forces  of  ignorance. 

The  Young  Turks  are  heartily  in  favor  of  educa- 
tion of  the  very  broadest  kind,  and  especially  are  they 
in  favor  of  the  education  of  the  Turkish  women.  It 
is  therefore  with  great  interest  that  we  turn  to  this 


WHAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  IS  DOING     91 

branch  of  the  subject  of  Turkey's  education,  especially 
since  it  was  inaugurated  and  has  been  carried  on  by 
American  women. 

When  the  bloodless  revolution  occurred  in  1908 
in  Turkey  and  changed  the  order  of  things  in  the 
land  of  the  Sultan,  the  average  American  was  amazed 
at  the  part  taken  in  it  by  the  Turkish  women,  and 
few  knew  just  how  much  the  education  of  these 
women  through  American  methods  contributed  to 
the  success  of  the  movement.  This  was  not  the  work 
of  a  few  weeks,  but  the  result  of  years  of  study 
among  the  women  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  who  are 
quick  to  learn,  although  they  weigh  matters  thorough- 
ly in  their  minds  before  acting. 

It  was  about  thirty  years  ago  that  a  few  benevo- 
lent women  of  New  England  decided  to  establish  a 
college  for  girls  in  Turkey,  a  school  where  the  young 
woman  of  the  Levant  might  have  the  high  academic 
and  Christian  education  of  her  American  sister.  In 
those  days  the  spies  of  the  Sultan  ruled  with  an  iron 
hand,  and  higher  education — in  fact  any  education — 
for  women  did  not  meet  with  their  approval.  How- 
ever, pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  the  Sultan  and 
he  permitted  the  college  to  open  in  Scutari,  across 
the  Bosphorus,  in  Asia.  It  was  a  struggle  to  get 
along  at  first,  and  many  Turks  were  threatened  with 
banishment  by  the  spies  if  they  patronized  the  school, 
but  gradually  the  institution  became  known  and.  de- 
spite the  threats,  the  better  class  of  Turkish  families 
began  to  send  their  daughters  to  be  educated  there. 


92  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

Greek,  Bulgarian,  and  Armenian  children  and  the 
women  of  the  Balkans  are  today  under  the  tutelage  of 
brainy  American  women  who  are  graduates  of  our 
best  American  colleges  for  women. 

When  the  recent  change  came  over  Turkey  the 
only  woman  who  was  appointed  on  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety  was  a  graduate  of  this  school  at  Scu- 
tari, and  the  members  of  the  Young  Turks  party  will 
speak  with  pjide  of  the  excellent  work  of  Madam 
Sallih  Bey.  Another  graduate  who  married  Assum 
Bey  in  Salonika,  was  received  in  the  public  meetings 
and  made  a  most  excellent  address  on  political  ques- 
tions under  consideration.  At  present  she  is  assisting 
her  husband  in  publishing  a  newspaper  in  the  interest 
of  the  new  regime.  Perhaps  after  all,  Mrs.  Rachel 
Foster  Avery,  the  noted  suffragette,  was  correct  in 
her  recent  prediction  that  the  Turkish  woman  would 
have  the  franchise  before  her  American  sister.  That 
would  be  the  irony  of  fate,  as  the  Turkish  women 
who  are  leaders  in  the  suffragette  movement  there, 
received  their  training  at  the  hands  of  the  Americans. 

Any  American  must  feel  proud  of  these  edu- 
cated refined  young  women  of  their  own  land  who, 
from  the  pure  love  of  doing  good,  teach  in  this  school. 
Away  from  friends  and  home  in  this  strange  land, 
they  are  intensely  interested  in  their  work.  Several 
of  them  have  mastered  such  languages  as  Bulgarian, 
Russian,  Roumanian,  and  Albanian. 

The  buildings  of  the  college  are  old,  and  during 
the  year   1905  one  was  burned  and  has  never  been 


WHAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  IS  DOING     93 

rebuilt.  This  was  because  the  trustees  were  working 
on  a  plan  to  secure  a  better  site  across  the  Bosphorus, 
where  more  commodious  buildings  could  be  erected. 
This  site  consisting  of  fifty  acres  has  been  secured 
and  the  buildings  are  being  erected,  some  of  them 
now  in  use,  and  the  institution  is  now  known  as  the 
Woman's  College  of  Constantinople.  The  Sultan  has 
exempted  the  school  from  taxation  and  everyone  is 
happy  over  the  thought  of  getting  the  school  over 
into  Europe.  The  president  of  this  college  is  Dr. 
Mary  Patterson  Mills  and  the  professor  of  literature 
and  art  is  Miss  Isabel  Frances  Dodd.  The  latter 
speaks  Bulgarian  and  Arabic  fluently. 

At  present  the  nationalities  of  the  college  students 
are  Armenian,  Greek,  Bulgarian,  English,  Turkish, 
American,  Swiss,  French,  Austrian,  German,  Moslem, 
Albanian,  Spanish,  Russian  and  Servian  Hebrew. 
They  manage  to  get  along  together  with  little  diffi- 
culty and  in  nearly  every  instance  learn  English  rapid- 
ly. The  rich  Bulgarians  are  especially  anxious  to 
have  their  daughters  receive  an  American  education. 
The  Greeks,  too,  are  making  applications,  and  as 
this  nationality  excels  in  athletic  sports,  the  present 
tenuis  champion  is  a  pretty  Greek  girl.  Turks  who 
had  been  political  prisoners  for  years  and  who  have 
been  allowed  to  return  under  the  new  regime,  at  once 
placed  their  daughters  in  the  American  college.  One 
of  the  recent  graduates  of  the  school  was  the  daughter 
of  the  officer  who  had  charge  of  the  Sultan's  private 
fortune.     Many  of  the  Turkish   girls   have  taken  up 


94  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

professions  after  graduation,  and  not  a  few  have 
become  physicians,  among  them  Dr.  Zarouhi  Kaval- 
djian,  who  came  to  America  to  study  medicine  on 
the  completion  of  her  course  at  Scutari.  She  is 
now  practicing  medicine  in  Alabazan,  Turkey,  and 
doing  wonderful  work  in  the  uplifting  of  women. 
Another  Greek  became  a  nurse,  and  is  now  in  charge 
of  the  Princess  Hospital  in  Athens.  One  young 
Armenian  girl  has  voluntarily  established  a  social 
settlement  in  a  town  in  the  interior  of  Turkey,  where 
there  are  about  thirty  thousand  people  ignorant 
beyond  belief  and  filthy  beyond  endurance.  Only 
two  women  who  could  read  and  write  were  found  in 
this  place,  which  is  without  postoffice  or  telegraph 
communication.  Two  others  who  are  Albanians,  have 
opened  a  girl's  school  in  Albania.  The  language  of 
this  school  is  Albanian,  and  as  there  are  no  text  books 
in  that  language,  these  young  women  have  trans- 
lated and  copied  all  the  books  they  use.  These  are 
but  a  few  of  the  graduates  who  are  doing  things. 

Apart  from  the  regular  course  of  study  the  girls 
have  what  is  known  as  the  Students'  Government 
Association,  which,  in  a  great  measure,  tends  to  make 
each  one  rely  on  herself.  Each  year  a  president  is 
elected.  She  appoints  a  cabinet  of  seven  girls,  each  of 
whom  takes  her  turn  in  keeping  order  in  the  class- 
rooms, and  gives  the  girls  permission  to  do  certain 
things.  When  questions  are  too  difficult  for  her  to 
solve,  the  older  members  of  the  cabinet  are  called  to- 
gether and  the  president  is  consulted.     In  this  way  the 


WHAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  IS  DOING     95 

girls  gain  a  general  knowledge  of  the  practical  prob- 
lems of  life.  There  is  rarely  a  clash  or  disobedience  to 
the  final  decision.  Outdoor  exercise  is  compulsory,  ten- 
nis being  the  favorite  game.  Several  of  the  girls  own 
horses  and  are  excellent  horsewomen.  The  institution 
is  run  on  much  the  same  plan  as  colleges  of  the  order 
of  Bryn  Mawr,  and  the  girls  of  the  Levant  are  using 
the  same  text  books. 

The  college  is  not  a  mission.  Sunday  worship  is 
conducted,  and  the  regular  morning  and  evening 
chapel  services  form  a  part  of  the  religious  life  of 
the  college.  A  Christian  Association  has  been  estab- 
lished and  committees  are  appointed  for  different 
work;  one  looks  after  the  new  students,  another  will 
see  that  flowers  are  sent  to  the  hospitals,  another  con- 
ducts a  sewing  class  and  the  clothing  made  is  sent 
to  the  Home  of  the  Aged  kept  for  all  nationalities  in 
Constantinople  by  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor.  A 
Christmas  tree  for  the  poor  children  was  arranged 
by  the  association,  all  nationalities  joining  in  the 
preparation.  The  girls  are  especially  interested  in 
the  social  settlement  work  of  the  young  Armenian 
graduate  and  recently  sent  her  financial  aid  in  her 
work.  The  association  conducts  its  regular  religious 
meetings. 

The  college  depends  on  the  tuition  of  the  students 
for  its  support,  although  numerous  benevolent  women 
have  from  time  to  time  made  gifts  and  several  give 
a  certain  amount  each  year.  One  of  the  recent  dona- 
tions came  from  Miss  Helen  Gould,  who  visited  the 


96  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

institution  during  the  winter  of  1906  and  manifested 
great  interest  in  its  workings.  The  alumnae  of  the 
college,  too,  are  as  active  as  those  of  an  American 
university,  and  as  many  of  them  have  married  men 
of  note  -and  wealth,  they  are  likely  to  aid  materially  in 
the  construction  of  the  new  buildings.  The  president 
of  the  Alumnae  Association  is  Miss  Ourania  Logiou, 
a  Greek.  The  American  ambassador,  John  G.  A. 
Leichman,  who  has  recently  been  transferred  to  Rome, 
was  greatly  interested  in  the  college  and  usually  pre- 
sided at  the  commencement  exercises  and  gave  out 
the  diplomas. 

Education  is  endorsed  by  the  Young  Turks'  party, 
and  especially  education  for  women.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  believe  that  the  Turk  underestimates  his  wife  or 
treats  her  like  a  slave,  for  such  is  not  the  case.  Among 
the  lower  classes  wife  beating  and  ill  treatment  of 
women  is  less  frequent  than  in  our  own  country.  Even 
the  women  of  the  harem  have  certain  rights  which 
are  always  respected.  For  instance,  if  a  pair  of  shoes 
is  placed  outside  the  door  of  the  harem,  it  is  under- 
stood by  the  master  that  visitors  are  present  and  he 
is  not  expected  to  enter,  nor  does  he,  until  the  shoes 
are  removed.  The  women  have  the  sole  care  of  the 
children,  especially  as  to  their  education.  They  also 
have  full  charge  of  the  household,  and  few  Turkish 
women  are  to  be  found  working  outside  their  own 
homes.  Indeed,  it  is  very  difficult  to  procure  Turkish 
female  servants.  The  Turk  is  usually  an  affectionate 
father  and  provides  well  for  his  family.     So  with  the 


WHAT  AMERICAN  EDUCATION  IS  DOING     97 

increasing  number  of  educated  women  in  that  country, 
still  better  results  in  family  life  will  follow. 

Who  can  foretell  what  American  methods  of 
education  will  yet  do  in  the  land  of  the  Turk  by  giving 
the  women  that  training  of  mind  which  brings  strength 
of  character?  When  Turkey  finally  stands  abreast 
with  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world,  America  will 
have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  a  great  part 
of  this  transition  had  its  birth  and  nurture  in  the 
American  college  for  girls  on  the  hills  of  Scutari,  in 
Asia* 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE 

THE  unchanging  East  has  begun  to  move.  Japan 
set  the  pace,  and  the  other  great  nations  of 
Asia  are  lamely  trying  to  keep  step.  During  the 
struggle  of  Japan  with  Russia,  the  Turks  were  pro- 
foundly affected.  Russia  is  the  hereditary  enemy  of 
Turkey,  and  for  several  generations  the  latter  has 
been  losing  ground.  From  the  war  of  1877,  at  the 
beginning  of  Abdul  Hamid's  reign,  the  Turks  emerged 
with  inglorious  defeat,  in  spite  of  glorious  courage 
( in  the  field  of  battle  ;  they  were  obliged  to  surrender 
territory  to  the  victor  at  each  end  of  the  Black  Sea, 
and  the  revenues  of  some  of  the  fairest  Ottoman 
provinces  have  been  drained  off  ever  since,  according 
to  the  terms  of  indemnity  to  swell  the  resources  of 
Russia.  When  the  Japanese  beat  the  Russians,  the 
Turks  said  one  to  another: 

"If  they   did   that,   we   can   do   it   too.      How   did 
they  accomplish  it?" 

"By  adopting  the  methods  of  modern  civilization." 
"Then  we  will  adopt  these  methods,  and  the  first 
step  is  the  establishment  of  constitutional  and  parlia- 
mentary government."  So  the  leaders  of  progressive 
thought,  chiefly  the  military  men.  risked  everything 
to    secure    at    last    the    public    introduction    of    those 

98 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE       99 

reforms  for  which  preparations  had  long  been  making' 
below  the  surface. 

It  was  fairly  pathetic  to  witness  the  efforts  made 
by  the  population  of  the  country  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  idea  of  representative  institutions,  so  foreign 
to  their  notions  hitherto.  Some  persons  proceeded  to 
turn  liberty  into  license,  supposing  that  liberty  meant 
the  opportunity  for  each  man  to  do  exactly  as  pleased 
himself.  A  crop  of  loud-voiced  orators  started  up 
to  discuss  issues  irrelevant  to  the  circumstances,  such 
as  decentralization  of  the  highly  centralized  adminis- 
trative system.  Certain  villagers,  to  whom  an  apostle 
of  the  new  regime  was  expounding  their  high  status 
as  voters  for  members  of  Parliament,  dully  responded 
that  they  had  heard  all  about  it  before,  but  they  did 
not  want  to  go  to  Constantinople  as  members  of 
Parliament;  they  preferred  to  remain  quietly  at 
home  in  their  own  village! 

Perhaps  the  gravest  feature  in  the  situation  is 
the  racial  rivalry  and  animosity  existing  between 
Turk  and  Greek,  Greek  and  Armenian,  Armenian 
and  Kurd,  Kurd  and  Arab,  Arab  and  Albanian,  and 
the  other  heterogeneous  elements  that  make  up  the 
empire.  As  some  army  officers  were  one  day  dis- 
cussing these  problems  with  me,  one  of  them  rose, 
and,  advancing  with  eager  gesture,  exclaimed,  "When 
small  children  begin  to  go  to  school  they  must  first 
study  the  ABC  and  that  is  just  what  we  are  now. 
We  are  just  beginning  with  the  A  B  C  of  free  gov- 


100  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

crnment.  But  give  us  time.  Give  us  only  two  years, 
and  we'll  learn  the  lesson.'' 

So  far  the  Young  Turks  have  met  the  high  hopes 
of  their  friends  without  faltering.  Readers  at  a 
distance  can  hardly  realize  the  wonder  and  delight 
with  which  Americans  on  the  ground  observed  the 
forming  of  the  "  Ottoman  Freedom  and  Progress 
Clubs,"  in  the  different  cities  and  towns,  to  enlighten 
and  direct  public  opinion  in  regard  to  the  new  move- 
ment. 

While  all  agree  that  things  can  not  go  back  to 
where  they  were  before,  many  are  skeptical  as  to 
the  permanence  of  the  new  order  of  things.  Some 
of  the  Turks  themselves  believe  that  they  will  at  last 
be  the  prey  of  foreign  powers,  while  one  old  Turk 
in  a  burst  of  confidence  to  me  said,  "We'll  never  get 
a  real  solution  for  our  problems  till  we  bring  in  the 
English  and  set  them  up  in  Constantinople,  to  do  for 
Turkey  just  what  they  are  doing  for  India  and  Egypt. 
I've  been  to  Egypt,"  he  continued,  "on  my  pilgrim- 
ages to  Mecca,  and  I've  seen  what  the  English  are 
doing  there.  We  were  thirty-six  thousand  pilgrims, 
and  our  baggage  was  put  in  one  great  pile,  because 
of  quarantine  regulations.  It  was  guarded  by  just 
a  one-armed  man  and  he  looked  half  asleep,  and  not 
a  thing  was  stolen.  But  if  it  had  been  guarded  by 
a  whole  regiment  of  our  soldiers,  not  a  thing  would 
have  been  left." 

Tell  this  incident,  however,  to  a  British  adminis- 
trator, and  he  will  nod  his  head  complacently  at  the 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE     101 

great  compliment  it  means  to  his  government ;  then 
he  will  shake  his  head  and  say  that  the  hands  of 
the  English  are  full  already ;  they  can  not  add  further 
to  their  responsibilities.  Indeed,  the  European  situa- 
tion with  regard  to  Turkey  is  so  delicate  that  some 
periodicals  hardly  dare  publish  the  facts,  lest  their 
utterances  be  misquoted  and  misapplied  under  the 
suspicious  espionage  of  rival  powers.  Most  Ameri- 
cans would  agree  in  preferring  an  independent  career 
for  the  Ottoman  commonwealth  to  the  alleged  bless- 
ings of  development  under  the  tutelage  of  any  foreign 
government.  Therefore,  every  ounce  of  influence 
available  ought  to  be  thrown  into  the  scale  in  favor 
of  the  Young  Turkey  movement,  and  in  favor  of  this 
we  understand  that  President  Taft  regards  Pekin  and 
Constantinople  as  the  two  most  important  posts  in 
our  diplomatic  service,  because  they  represent  countries 
where  there  is  something  doing. 

Turks  and  Chinese,  at  the  extremities  of  the  con- 
tinent of  Asia,  are  distant  cousins  of  each  other,  and 
the  purer  the  Turkish  blood  flowing  in  the  veins,  the 
more  striking  are  the  Mongol  characteristics  appearing 
in  the  person,  such  as  squat  figure,  slant  eyes,  high 
cheek  bones,  yellowish  or  brownish  countenance,  and 
sparse  beard.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Young  Turk  is  a  distinctly  modern  product,  and 
represents  the  same  general  conditions  that  have  pro- 
duced the  American.  Onto  the  fundamental  Tartar 
stock,  brave,  self-reliant,  simple  in  life,  rather  narrow 
in  vision,  peaceful,  if  let  alone,  but  intolerant  of  oppo- 


102  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

sition,  have  been  grafted  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  Aryan  races.  The  harem  with  its  representation 
of  other  peoples  of  varying  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  types,  has  been  a  more  important  element 
than  many  realize.  Partly  as  a  result  of  this  infusion 
of  new  blood,  partly  as  the  natural  consequence  of 
modern  inter-communication,  the  child  of  the  hetero- 
geneous harem  became  a  cosmopolitan.  For  a  time 
this  was  scarcely  to  his  advantage.  He  appeared  to 
be  more  or  less  of  a  hybrid,  neither  Turk  nor  Euro- 
pean, neither  Moslem  nor  Christian,  and  was  accord- 
ingly scouted  by  all.  Little  by  little  he  has  emerged 
until  he  appears  to-day  as  an  upholder  of  constitutional 
law,  a  believer  in  religious  freedom,  an  up-to-date 
man  of  the  world. 

In  estimating  his  value  in  the  present  emergency, 
certain  facts  must  be  kept  in  mind.  He  has  a  genius 
for  government.  Hitherto  it  has  principally  been 
manifest  in  bad  government,  but  bad  or  good  his 
nation  and  race  have  managed  to  keep  the  upper  hand 
wherever  they  have  been.  They  have  succeeded  in 
suppressing  disturbances,  whenever  they  wanted  to, 
and  have  preserved  not  merely  the  semblance  but  the 
reality  of  rule,  both  in  Turkey  and  Persia,  for  the 
Kajar  of  Teheran  is  first  cousin  to  the  Ottoman  of 
Constantinople.  This  has  been  attributed  to  the  weak- 
ness of  the  other  elements,  but  that  is  only  partly 
correct.  Whatever  allowance  be  made  for  such  con- 
ditions, the  fact  remains  that  the  Turk  has  succeeded 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE     103 

in  compelling  obedience,  the  first  and  most  funda- 
mental quality  of  rule. 

He  is  the  dominant  element  in  a  country  which 
is  practically  a  geographical  unit.  Macedonia  is  not 
an  integral  part  or  essential  part  of  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire. That  extends  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Persian 
border,  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Arabic.  The  talk 
about  partition  of  the  Turkish  Empire  too  often 
ignores  the  geography  of  that  empire.  To  divide 
Asiatic  Turkey  would  perhaps  not  be  an  impossibility ; 
few  things  are  impossible,  but  it  would  entail  an 
expense  in  life  and  cash  which  no  European  nation 
or  combination  of  nations  would  or  could  incur. 

People  talk  sneeringly  about  the  Turk.  The  Turk 
is  not  a  man  to  be  sneered  at,  and  the  fact  that  for 
six  hundred  years  that  dynasty  has  held  control  of 
the  Turkish  Empire  is  a  fact  that  shows  that  the 
Turkish  rulers  are  men  of  ability.  Sultan  Abdul 
Hamid,  recently  deposed,  in  spite  of  his  cruelty  and 
misrule  and  deception  of  his  people,  was  not  a  man 
to  be  sneered  at.  If  the  readers  of  these  pages  could 
see  him  they  would  realize  that  the  caricatures  in  the 
papers  are  caricatures.  You  can  see  by  his  very  pres- 
ence that  this  man,  now  in  his  sixty-seventh  year, 
is  a  man  of  force,  is  a  man  of  industry,  is  a  man  who 
had  a  definite  policy  in  the  ruling  of  his  kingdom ; 
and  during  those  thirty-three  years  after  the  first 
Parliament,  which  he  deliberately  killed,  he  was  busy 
establishing  schools,  building  mosques,  and  erecting 
hospitals,  busy  establishing  sanitary  measures  for  the 


104  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

health  of  his  people ;  busy  constructing  railways ;  busy 
the  past  years  in  establishing  that  great  railway  from 
Damascus  to  Mecca.  These  good  qualities  that  we 
can  see  in  the  deposed  monarch,  we  can  see  reflected 
in  the  Turks  as  a  people. 

And  now  this  people  is  casting  about  in  the  effort 
to  develop  their  natural  resources  and  improve  the 
agricultural,  commercial,  and  social,  as  well  as  the 
political  conditions  of  the  country.  If  we  omit  from 
present  consideration  the  outlying  parts  of  the  empire, 
Asia  Minor,  Mesopotamia,  and  Syria  together,  having 
no  natural  affiliations  with  any  other  government, 
cover  an  area  of  about  four  hundred  thousand  square 
miles.  This  territory  is  twice  as  large  as  Germany,  more 
than  twice  as  large  as  France,  and  sixty  per  cent 
greater  than  Austria-Hungary.  It  contains  but  about 
sixteen  million  inhabitants,  as  contrasted  with  the 
forty  million  to  sixty  million  jostling  each  other  ■  in 
each  of  these  European  states.  Statistics  do  not  exist 
but  the  most  competent  observers  believe  that  the 
natural  resources  of  these  Turkish  areas  in  Asia  equal 
or  exceed  those  of  corresponding  territories  in  Europe, 
or  would  if  they  were  scientifically  developed.  In 
salt-water  frontage  and  proximity  to  the  world's  mar- 
ket, also,  the  Turkish  position  is  unsurpassed. 

Under  the  new  regime,  the  Young  Turks  are 
making  great  plans  for  the  development  of  Turkey. 
There  is  great  need  for  transportation  facilities  in  the 
way  of  railroads  and  highways,  civic  improvement  is 
a  crying  need   and  there   are  great  agricultural  and 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE     105 

mineral  resources  in  the  country.  Last  December  an 
American  syndicate  obtained  concessions  sanctioned 
by  the  Turkish  Parliament  for  the  building  of  a  rail- 
road from  Sivas  to  Mosul  and  beyond,  via  Harput, 
Arghana,  Diarbekir.  A  branch  line  is  also  proposed, 
with  an  outlet  to  the  Mediterranean,  at  Jumurtalik,  on 
the  Gulf  of  Alexandretta,  where  a  modern  port  is 
also  to  be  constructed.  It  is  considered  that  this  rail- 
road would  be  exceedingly  valuable,  as  affording  an 
outlet  for  the  products  of  the  Anatolian  highlands, 
and  connecting  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor  with  tiie 
sea.  It  would  also  have  a  strategic  value  because  it 
would  reach  the  Persian  frontier. 

English  capitalists  are  reported  to  have  proposed  to 
the  Turkish  government  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
from  Adrianople  to  Rumeli  Hissar,  passing  through 
the  most  fertile  and  populous  districts  of  Asia  Minor 
and  extending  to  Suleimanieh,  whence  it  will  go 
through  Persia  to  India.  The  extent  of  its  route 
through  Turkey  would  be  three  thousand  miles.  Its 
promoters  request  the  right  of  working  all  the  mines 
within  six  miles  on  each  side  of  the  line,  engaging  to 
give  thirty  per  cent  of  their  produce  to  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  Public  Works  Ministry  is  planning  extensions 
to  the  present  railroad  mileage,  of  over  one  thousand 
miles  in  European  Turkey  and  five  thousand  miles  in 
Asiatic  Turkey.  Foreign  capital  will  be  enlisted  to 
carry  out  these  projects. 

The  German  Anatolian  Railroad,  usually  called  the 


106  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

Bagdad  Railway,  is  being  continued  eastward  across 
the  Taurus  Mountains  into  Mesopotamia,  traversing 
the  vilayets  of  Broussa,  Konieh,  Adana,  Aleppo, 
Mosul,  Bagdad,  and  Bosra. 

Constantinople,  although  it  has  nearly  a  million 
inhabitants,  has  no  electric  light  or  telephone  system. 
For  the  latter  a  contract  has  recently  been  granted,  and 
arrangements  will  soon  be  made  for  an  electric  "light 
plant.  Plans,  with  charts,  for  the  opening  of  ports, 
construction  of  roads,  building  of  bridges  and  embank- 
ments, dredging  of  rivers  for  navigation,  hydraulic 
agriculture  and  irrigation  in  Mesopotamia  were  imme- 
diately prepared  on  the  granting  of  a  constitution,  and 
the  work  on  road  construction  has  already  been 
started. 

The  aid  of  foreign  capital  is  being  sought  for  the 
development  of  mineral  wealth  in  Turkey.  A  conces- 
sion for  the  further  exploitation  of  the  Arghana  copper 
mines  in  the  vilayet  of  Diarbekir  is  to  be  granted  for 
a  term  of  sixty  years. 

The  National  Bank  of  Turkey  has  been  organized 
with  Sir  Henry  Babington  Smith,  of  London,  at  its 
head.  The  board  of  directors  of  this  bank  are  six  in 
number,  three  of  whom  are  Ottoman  subjects,  one  of 
whom  must  be  a  Greek  or  Armenian.  It  is  expected 
they  will  undertake  the  financing  of  various  industrial 
and  commercial  projects  connected  with  land  develop- 
ment in  Turkey.  The  bank  will  have  a  decided  influ- 
ence in  encouraging  the  investment  of  foreign  capital  in 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  OTTOMAN'  EMPIRE     107 

the  numerous  enterprises  incident  to  Turkey's  awak- 
ening. 

Hitherto  Turkish  officers  have  looked  askance  at 
mining-  enterprises.  Some  shepherds  found  a  salt 
mine  by  observing  that  the  sheep  licked  the  soil  and 
rocks  at  a  certain  spot.  But  their  joy  was  short- 
lived, for,  as  soon  as  the  officials  heard  of  it,  they  not 
only  prohibited  the  peasants  from  using  the  salt  they 
had  found,  but  placed  a  watchman  there  to  prevent 
trespassing.  Then  the  community,  in  place  of  an 
additional  profit  and  industry,  was  burdened  with  the 
additional  cost  of  a  watchman's  salary.  The  bureau- 
cratic reason  for  this  action  was  the  law  reserving  salt 
under  a  government  monopoly.  If  only  the  govern- 
ment had  developed  its  monopolized  resources  for  the 
benefit  of  its  poverty-stricken  people! 

There  is  progress  in  some  lines  if  not  in  all 
equally.  American  agricultural  implements  and  other 
up-to-date  machines  have  put  in  an  appearance,  but 
their  progress  is  slow  in  a  land  where  plowing  is  still 
done  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Elijah  and  Elisha,  and 
harvesting  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Ruth  and  Boaz. 
Living  men  remember  when  there  was  scarcely  any 
coast  trade  along  the  north  shore  of  Asia  Minor;  now 
these  Black  Sea  waters  are  traversed  by  the  steamers 
of  fifteen  or  more  companies,  carrying  away  the  sur- 
plus products  of  Asia  Minor,  and  bringing  in  the 
manufactured   goods   of   civilization. 

An  editorial  in  a  recent  Independent  compasses  the 
hope  for  the  future  when  it  says : 


108  ORIENTAL  LIFE— TURKEY 

The  test  of  the  Young  Turk  will  come  with  the 
question  as  to  whether  he  is  willing  to  recognize  hib 
limitations  as  well  as  his  possibilities.  If  he  is  shrewd 
enough  to  perceive  that  his  remaining  European  pro- 
vinces are  still,  as  they  always  have  been,  a  source  of 
weakness  rather  than  strength,  and  will  devote  him- 
self to  the  development  of  the  section  which  is  dis- 
tinctively his  own,  he  will  succeed.  That  section  with 
its  fertile  plains  and  mountains,  rich  in  mineral  re- 
sources, is  ample  to  satisfy  his  highest  ambition. 

But  what  about  his  religion?  He  is  Moslem,  and 
Islam,  in  the  long  run,  must  yield  to  Christianity.  Can 
the  young  Turk  effect  the  transition?  There  are 
many  indications  that  this  is  in  his  mind.  He  may 
not,  probably  will  not,  adopt  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession, the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  the  decrees  of 
the  Council  of  Trent,  but  we  are  learning  that  these 
are  historical  developments  of  Christianity  rather  than 
essential  elements.  As  he  comes  to  know  Jesus,  whom 
he  already  honors,  Mohammed  will  yield  and  the 
Gospels  take  the  place  of  the  Koran.  It  is  for  the 
Christian  nations'to  show  him  by  their  relations  with 
him  that  the  essential  elements  of  their  faith  are  "to 
do  justly,  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
his  God."     Then  shall  the  Turk  come  into  his  own. 

"The  Turkish  flag,"  says  President  Bliss  of  the 
Syrian  Protestant  College,  at  Beirut,  "  has  become 
a  new  flag.  We  see  its  beauty  as  never  before. 
Heretofore  we  have  looked  upon  its  star  and  crescent 
upon  a  red  field  and  been  accustomed  to  think  of 
them  as  a  setting  star  and  waning  crescent;  to-day 
we  look  upon  the  star  as  a  rising  star — the  star  of 
the  morning — and  the  crescent  is  a  waxing  and  not 
a  waning  crescent. ",I 


ARABIA 

CHAPTER  IX 

ARABIA  THE  CENTER  OF  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD 

THE  great  peninsula  known  in  these  days  as 
Arabia  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  parts  of  the 
world.  Long  before  the  sons  of  Jacob  went  down  into 
Egypt,  the  sons  of  Ishmael  had  settled  in  the  land 
Providence  had  assigned  them.  The  boundaries  of 
Arabia  are  outlined  as  early  in  the  Bible  as  Genesis 
25 :  18.  Probably  many  centuries  ago  Palestine,  Syria, 
and  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  were  important  parts  of 
Arabia.  Arabia  is  between  Egypt  and  Persia  to  put 
it  widely,  also  between  India  and  Europe.  It  has  a 
seacoast  of  about  four  thousand  miles. 

To  be  more  explicit  as  to  its  boundaries,  it  has 
eastward  the  waters  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  the  Strait  of 
Ormuz,  and  the  Gulf  of  Oman.  The  entire  routhern 
coast  is  washed  by  the  Indian  Ocean,  which  reaches 
to  Babel-Mandeb,  "The  Gate  of  Tears,"  from  which 
point  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Akaba  form  the 
western  boundaries.  The  undefined  northern  desert, 
in  some  places  a  sea  of  sand,  completes  the  isolation 
which  has  led  the  Arabs  themselves  to  call  the  penin- 
sula their  "Island"  (Jccirat-cl-Arab).  In  fact,  the 
northern  boundary  will  probably  never  be  accurately 

109 


110  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

defined.  The  so-called  Syrian  Desert,  reaching  to 
about  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  might  better  be  regarded 
as  the  Arabian  desert,  for  in  physical  and  ethnical 
features  it  bears  much  greater  resemblance  to  the 
southern  peninsula  than  to  the  surrounding  regions  of 
Syria  and  Mesopotamia.  Bagdad  is  properly  an 
Arabian  city,  and  to  the  Arabs  of  the  north  is  as  much 
a  part  of  the  peninsula  as  is  Aden  to  those  of  the 
southwest.  The  true,  though  shifting  boundary  of 
Arabia  on  the  north  would  be  the  limit  of  Nomad 
encampments,  but  for  convenience  a  line  may  be  drawn 
from  the  Mediterranean  along  the  thirty-third  parallel 
to  Busrah.  As  a  whole  the  country  is  about  as  large 
as  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
has  an  area  of  some  million  square  miles.  No  land 
so  little  attracts  the  attention  of  the  speculator,  hunter, 
adventurer,  or  traveler  as  Arabia,  and  yet  no  country 
presents  so  large  or  new  a  field  as  the  subject  of  these 
brief  chapters. 

What  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  are  to  Christendom, 
this,  and  vastly  more,  Mecca  and  Arabia  are  to  the 
Mohammedan  world.  Not  only  is  this  land  the  cradle 
of  their  religion  and  the  birthplace  of  their  prophet, 
the  shrine  toward  which,  for  centuries,  prayers  and 
pilgrimages  have  gravitated;  but  Arabia  is  also,  ac- 
cording to  universal  Moslem  tradition,  the  original 
home  of  Adam  after  the  fall  and  the  home  of  all  the 
old  patriarchs.  The  story  runs  that  when  the  primal 
pair  fell  from  their  estate  of  bliss  in  the  heavenly 
paradise,  Adam  landed  on  a  mountain  in  Ceylon  and 


ARABIA,  CENTER  OF.  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD   111 

Eve  fell  at  Jiddah,  on  the  western  coast  of  Arabia. 
After  a  hundred  years  of  wandering'  they  met  near 
Mecca,  and  here  Allah  constructed  for  them  a  taber- 
nacle, on  the  site  of  the  present  Kaaba.  He  put  in  its 
foundation  the  famous  stone  once  whiter  than  snow, 
but  since  turned  black  by  the  sins  of  pilgrims  who 
have  bestowed  upon  it  countless  kisses !  In  proof  of 
these  statements  travelers  are  shown  the  Black  Stone 
at  Mecca  and  the  tomb  of  Eve  near  Jiddah.  Another 
accepted  tradition  says  that  Mecca  stands  on  a  spot 
exactly  beneath  God's  throne  in  heaven. 

Without  reference  to  these  wild  traditions,  which 
are  soberly  set  down  as  facts  by  Moslem  historians, 
Arabia  is  a  land  of  perpetual  interest  to  the  geogra- 
pher and  the  historian.  The  general  type  of  Arabia 
is  that  of  a  central  tableland  surrounded  by  a  desert 
ring,  sandy  to  the  south,  west,  and  east,  stony  to  the 
north.  This  outlying  circle  is  in  its  turn  girt  by  moun- 
tains, low  and  sterile  for  the  most,  but  attaining  ia 
Yemen  and  Oman  considerable  height,  breadth,  and 
fertility ;  while  beyond  these  a  narrow  rim  of  coast  is 
bordered  by  the  sea.  The  surface  of  the  midmost  table- 
land equals  somewhat  less  than  one-half  the  entire 
peninsula,  and  its  special  dcmarkations  are  much  af- 
fected, nay  often  fixed,  by  the  windings  and  inrunnings 
of  the  Xefud  (sandy  desert).  If  to  these  central 
highlands  or  Nejd,  taking  that  word  in  its  wider  sense, 
we  add  whatever  spots  of  fertility  belong  to  the  outer 
circles  we  shall  find  that  Arabia  contains  about  two- 
thirds  of   cultivated   or   at   least   of   cultivatible   land, 


112  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

with  a  remaining  third  of  irreclaimable  desert,  chiefly 
on  the  south. 

The  above  is  the  description  given  by  Palgrave, 
and  as  few  have  penetrated  the  interior  of  Arabia  since 
his  day,  it  is  presumable  that  the  description  still  pre- 
vails. From  this  description  it  is  evident  that  the  least 
attractive  part  of  the  country  is  the  coast.  This  may 
be  the  reason  that  Arabia  has  been  so  harshly  judged. 
ac  to  climate  and  soil,  and  so  much  neglected  by  those 
who  only  knew  of  it  from  the  captains  who  had 
touched  its  coast  in  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Persian  Gulf. 
Nothing  is  more  surprising  than  to  pass  through  the 
barren  cinder  gateway  of  Aden,  up  the  mountain 
passes,  into  the  marvelous  fertility  and  delightful  cli- 
mate of  Yemen.  Arabia,  like  the  Arab,  has  a  rough, 
frowning  exterior,  but  a  warm,  hospitable  heart. 

The  great  wadys  of  Arabia  are  its  character  ist.c 
feature,  celebrated  since  the  days  of  Job,  the  Arab. 
These  wadys,  often  full  to  the  brim  in  winter  and 
black  by  reason  of  the  frost,  but,  entirely  dried  up 
during  the  heat  of  summer,  would  never  be  suspected 
of  giving  nourishment  to  even  a  blade  of  grass.  They 
are  generally  dry  for  nine  or  ten  months  of  the  year, 
during  which  time  water  is  obtained  from  wells  sunk 
in  the  wady-bed.  None  of  these  wadys  reach  the 
coast,  at  least  by  the  overland  route,  but  beneath  the 
surface  there  is  an  abundance  of  water.  This  may 
account  for  the  ease  and  frequency  and  the  necessity 
for  digging  the  wells  that  play  so  important  a  part 
in  Bible  historv.     Wadv  Sirhan   runs  in  a  southeast- 


ARABIA,  CENTER  OE  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD   113 

erly  direction  from  the  Hauran  highlands  to  the  Jaut 
district  on  the  edge  of  the  great  Nefud;  it  is  fed  by 
the  smaller  Wady  er-Rajel.  Wady  Dauasir,  which 
receives  the  Nejran  streams,  drains  all  of  the  Asir  and 
southern  Hejaz  highlands  northward  to  Bahr  Salu- 
meh,  a  small  lake,  the  only  one  known  in  the  whole 
peninsula.  The  Aftan,  of  which  the  song  is  written. 
"  Flow  gently,  sweet  Aftan,"  is  another  important 
wady  running  from  the  borders  of  Xejd  into  the  Per- 
sian Gulf.  The  most  important  water-bed  in  Arabia 
is  the  celebrated  Wady  er-Ruma,  only  partly  explored 
as  yet,  which  is  the  case  with  much  of  the  interior  of 
Arabia.  The  caravan  routes  of  Arabia  follow  these 
wadys  that  they  may  have  easy  access  to  water  if  they 
run  short  in  the  supply  they  carry  with  them  in  great 
water-skins. 

If  we  would  find  the  paradise  of  Arabia,  we  must 
go  to  the  river-country,  or  Mesopotamia.  Formerly 
this  country  was  limited  to  the  land  lying  between  the 
two  rivers  and  south  of  the  old  wall  by  which  they  were_ 
connected  above  Bagdad.  From  this  point  to  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  the  district  was  and  is  still  known  as  Irak- 
Arabi,  to  distinguish  it  from  Irak  of  Persia.  Com- 
monly, however,  the  name  of  Mesopotamia  (Mid- 
River-Country)  is  given  to  the  whole  northeastern 
part  of  Arabia.  It  has  a  total  area  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  square  miles  and  presents  great 
uniformity  in  its  physical  and  ethnical  characteristics. 
Arabs  live  and  Arabic  is  spoken  for  three  hundred 
miles  beyond  Bagdad  as  far  as  Diarbekr  and  Mardin. 


114  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

Near  Bagdad,  the  two  great  rivers,  Euphrates  and 
Iliddekel,  after  draining  Eastern  Asia  Minor,  Arme- 
nia, and  Kurdistan,  approach  quite  near  together ; 
from  thence  the  main  streams  are  connected  by  several 
channels  and  watercourses,  the  chief  of  which  is  Shatt- 
el-Hai.  At  Kurna  the  two  rivers  unite  to  form  the 
Shatt-el-Arab,  which  traverses  a  flat  fertile  plain  dot- 
ted with  villages  and  covered  with  artificially  irrigated 
meadow  lands  and  extensive  date  groves.  As  far  up 
as  Bagdad  the  river  is  navigable  throughout  the  year 
for  steamers  of  considerable  size.  It  is  entirely  owing 
to  the  enterprise  of  English  commerce  and  the  Bagdad- 
Busrah  steamship  line  that  the  country  has  been  de- 
veloped into  new  life  and  prosperity.  Even  Turkish 
misrule  has  not  done  away  entirely  with  natural  pro- 
ductiveness and  fertility ;  and  now,  in  Arabia,  the 
Turks  have  a  chance  to  show  under  their  new  regime 
what  good  government  can  do.  If  they  put  the  best 
of  their  energies  into  developing  the  country,  North- 
eastern Arabia  would  regain  its  ancient  importance 
and  double  its  population. 

Two  features  are  prominent  in  the  physical  geog- 
raphy of  this  region.  First,  the  flat  almost  level 
stretches  of  meadow  without  any  rise  or  fall  except 
the  artificial  ancient  mounds.  The  second  is  the  date- 
palm.  The  whole  length  of  the  country  from  Fao  and 
Mohammerah  to  the  country  of  the  Montefik  Arabs 
above  Kurna  is  one  great  date  plantation  on  both  sides 
of  the  wide  river.  Everywhere  the  tall,  shapely  trees 
stand  out  against  the  horizon  and  near  the  lower  es- 


ARABIA,  CENTER  OF  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD   115 

tuary  of  the  Shatt-el-Arab  they  are  especially  luxu- 
riant and  plentiful.  Formerly  every  palm  tree  on  the 
Nile  was  registered  and  taxed,  but  to  count  every  such 
tree  on  the  Shatt-el-Arab  would  be  an  unending  task. 

The  proper  coat  of  arms  for  all  lower  Mesopotamia 
would  be  a  date-palm.  It  is  the  "banner  of  the  cli- 
mate" and  the  wealth  of  the  country.  A  date  garden 
is  a  scene  of  beauty,  varying  greatly  according  to  the 
time  of  the  day  and  the  state  of  the  weather.  At  sun- 
rise or  sunset  the  gorgeous  colors  fall  on  the  grace- 
fully pendant  fronds  or  steal  gently  through  the 
lighter  foliage  and  reflect  a  vivid  green  so  beautiful 
that  once  seen,  it  can  never  be  forgotten.  At  high- 
noon  the  dark  shadows  and  deep  colors  of  the  date- 
forests  refresh  and  rest  the  eye  aching  from  the  brazen 
glare  of  sand  and  sky.  But  the  forest  is  at  its  best 
when  on  a  dewy  night  the  full  moon  rises  and  makes 
a  pearl  glisten  on  every  spiked  leaf  and  the  shadows 
show  black  as  night  in  contrast  with  the  sheen  of  the 
upper  foliage. 

It  was  an  Arab  poet  who  first  sang  the  song  of  the 
date-palm,  so  beautifully  interpreted  by  Bayard  Tay- 
lor: 

"Next  to  thee.  O  fair  Gazelle! 
O    Bedowee   girl,   beloved    so   well, — 
Next  to  the  fearless   Nejidee 

Whose   fleetness    shall   bear   me   again    to    thee — 
Next  to  ye  both  I  love  the  palm 
With   his   leaves   of  beauty  and   fruit  of  balm. 
Next  to  ye  both,   I   love  the  tree 
Whose   fluttering   shadows   wrap  us   three 
In  love  and   silence  and  mystery." 


116  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

The  date-palm  tree  is  found  in  Syria,  Asia  Minor, 
and  nearly  all  parts  of  Arabia,  and  the  southern  islands 
of  the  Mediterranean,  but  it  attains  to  its  greatest  per- 
fection in  upper  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia.  Some  idea 
of  the  immense  importance  of  this  one  crop  may  be 
gained  from  the  statement  of  an  old  English  merchant 
at  Busrah,  that  ''the  entire  annual  date  harvest  of  the 
River-country  might  be  conservatively  put  at  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  tons." 

Every  part  of  this  wonderful  tree  is  useful  to  the 
Arabs  in  unexpected  ways.  To  begin  at  the  top: 
The  pistils  of  the  date-blossom  contain  a  fine  curly 
fiber  which  is  beaten  out  and  used  in  all  Eastern  baths 
as  a  sponge  for  soaping  the  body.  At  the  extremity 
of  the  trunk  is  a  terminal  bud  containing  a  whitish 
substance  resembling  an  almond  in  consistency  and 
taste,  but  a  hundred  times  larger.  This  is  a  great 
table  delicacy.  There  are  said  to  be  over  one  hundred 
varieties  of  date-palm,  all  distinguished  by  their  fruit, 
and  the  Arabs  say  that  "a  good  housewife  may  fur- 
nish her  husband  every  day  for  a  month  with  a  dish 
of  dates  differently  prepared."  Syrup  and  vinegar  are 
made  from  old  dates ;  and  by  those  who  disregard  the 
Koran,  even  a  kind  of  brandy.  The  date-pit  is  ground 
up  and  fed  to  cows  and  sheep,  so  that  nothing  of  the 
precious  fruit  may  be  lost.  Whole  pits  are  used  as 
beads  and  counters  for  the  Arab  children  in  their 
games  on  the  desert-sand.  .  The  branches,  or  palms, 
are  stripped  of  their  leaves  and  used  like  rattan,  to 
make  beds,  tables,  chairs,  cradles,  bird-cages,  reading- 


ARABIA,  CENTER  OF  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD  117 

stands,  boats,  crates,  etc. ;  the  leaves  are  made  into 
baskets,  fans,  and  string,  and  the  bast,  or  bark,  of  the 
outer  trunk  forms  excellent  fiber  for  rope  of  many 
sizes  and  qualities.  The  wood  of  the  trunk,  though 
light  and  porous,  is  much  used  in  bridge-building  and 
architecture  as  it  is  quite  durable.  In  short,  when  a 
date-palm  is  cut  down,  there  is  not  a  particle  of  it 
that  is  wasted.  This  tree  is  the  "poorhouse"  and  asy- 
lum for  all  Arabia;  without  it  millions  would  have 
neither  food  nor  shelter.  For  one-half  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Mesopotamia  live  in  date-mat  dwellings. 

Mesopotamia  is  rich  not  only  in  date-groves,  but 
in  cereals,  wool,  gums,  licorice  root,  and  other  prod- 
ucts. The  export  of  wool  alone  in  a  recent  year  was 
valued  at  $1,443,500.  And  the  total  exports  the  same 
year,  for  the  two  provinces  of  Bagdad  and  Busrah, 
were  put  at  $2,614,800.  Busrah  is  the  shipping  place 
for  all  the  region  about,  and  ocean  steamers  of  consid- 
erable size  are  always  in  the  city's  harbor.  Notwith- 
standing this  showing  of  Arabia's  industry,  not  a 
tenth,  it  is  estimated,  is  produced  that  might  be  with 
better  cultivation  and  under  government  protection 
and  supervision.  There  is  a  saying  that  the  French 
are  starving  off  the  Arabs.  The  truth  is,  most  of  the 
natives  have  more  land  than  the  colonists.  An  Arab 
will  starve  to  death  on  a  piece  of  land  which  will  sup- 
port two  French  families,  simply  because  the  Arabs 
don't  know — and  will  not  learn — how  to  intensify  then- 
culture.  Some  Arabs,  however,  are  progressive  and 
have  purchased  and  put  into  use  improved  American 


118  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

machinery.  The  Arabs,  as  a  rule,  are  good  workmen, 
also,  driving  the  oxen  behind  the  American  plow 
steadily  and  faithfully;  fertilizing,  seeding,  and  har- 
vesting the  crops. 

The  resources  of  Arabia  are,  however,  a  secondary 
matter,  with  the  Arabs,  when  compared  with  her  reli- 
gion. And  most  people  know  the  land  merely  from 
Moslem  pilgrimages  to  Mecca  and  Medina.  We  have 
not  space  here  to  give  a  history  of  the  great  prophet, 
Mahomet,  nor  to  go  into  details  regarding  the  religion 
he  founded.  It  is  sufficient  unto  the  Arabs  that  he  was 
born  in  their  land,  and  that  his  tomb  may  be  visited  in 
Medina.  A  certificate  setting  forth  that  a  Moslem 
has  made  this  pilgrimage  is  sufficient  to  gain  him  a 
passport  to  heaven.  Before  one  sets  foot  in  Mecca, 
he  arrives  at  the  port  Jiddah,  about  sixty-five  miles 
distant  from  Mecca.  Here  is  a  quarantine  of  ten  days 
on  the  island  of  Kamaran,  and  with  only  a  short  stop 
in  Jiddah  —  long  enough  to  be  fleeced  —  the  pilgrim 
proceeds  on  his  way  to  Mecca  —  again  to  be  fleeced. 
It  is  said  that  the  people  of  Jiddah  and  Mecca  live  by 
fleecing  pilgrims,  and  that  the  region  abounds  in  hotel- 
keepers,  drummers,  guides,  money-changers,  money- 
lenders, slave-dealers,  and  even  worse  characters  who 
come  into  prominence  with  the  annual  transfer  of  the 
caravans  of  hajees  (pilgrims)  from  the  coast  inland. 
In  a  recent  year  an  estimation  considered  accurate 
places  the  number  of  pilgrims  who  entered  the  port 
of  Jiddah  to  have  been  92,625,  but  there  is  now  a 


ARABIA,  CENTER  OF  THE  MOSLEM  WORLD  119 

noticeable  falling  off  in  numbers  of  faithful  Moslems. 
No  infidels  are  ever  allowed  in  the  sacred  precincts 
of  the  territory  enclosing  the  birth-place  and  tomb 
cf  the  Prophet ;  it  is  a  rule  laid  down  in  the  Koran 
that  "the  polluted"  should  be  excluded.  Occasionally 
an  infidel  more  daring  than  the  rest  has  gained  en- 
trance, but  usually  to  meet  the  dire  death  by  persecu- 
tion. Now  that  a  railroad  is  being  built  to  the  sacred 
place,  and  customs  are  becoming  modified  by  Western 
civilization,  it  is  likely  that  some  way  will  be  found  to 
set  aside  the  Prophet's  edict  and  the  tourist  welcomed. 
The  rites  and  ceremonies  connected  with  this  pilgrim- 
age are  superstitious  beyond  almost  any  other  super- 
stition. But  the  Prophet  wisely  calculated  when  he 
enjoined  these  pilgrimages.  He  well  knew  the  con- 
solidating effect  of  forming  a  center  to  which  his  fol- 
lowers should  gather,  and  hence  he  reasserted  the 
sanctity  of  the  Black  Stone  that  came  down  from 
heaven ;  he  ordained  that  everywhere  throughout  the 
world  the  Moslem  should  pray  looking  toward  the 
Kaaba.  and  encouraged  them  to  make  a  pilgrimage 
thither.  Mecca  is  to  the  Moslem  what  Jerusalem  is 
to  the  Jew.  It  bears  with  it  all  the  influence  of  cen- 
turies of  associations.  It  carries  the  Moslem  back  to 
the  cradle  of  his  faith  and  the  childhood  of  his  Prophet. 
And,  most  of  all,  it  bids  him  remember  that  all  his 
brother  Moslems  are  worshiping  toward  the  same  sa- 
cred  spot ;  that  he  is  one  of  a  great  company  of  believ- 
er- unite]  by  one  faith,  filled  with  the  same  hopes, 
reverencing  the  same  thing,  worshiping  the  same  God.* 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ARABS,  THEIR  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 

CONCERNING  the  origin  of  the  tribes  and  peo- 
ple that  now  inhabit  the  Arabian  Peninsula  there 
is  a  disagreement  among  the  learned.  It  is  generally 
held  that  the  original  tribes  of  Northern  Arabia  are, 
descendants  of  Ishmael.  This  is  also  the  tradition  of 
all  Arab  historians.  As  to  the  South  Arabians,  who 
occupied  their  highlands  with  the  Hadramaut  coast 
for  centuries  before  the  Ishmaelites  appeared  on  the 
scene,  there  are  two  opinions.  Some  believe  them  to 
be  descendants  of  Joktan  (Arabic  Kahtan)  the  son  of 
Heber,  and  therefore,  like  the  Northern  Arabs,  true 
Semites.  Others  think  that  the  earliest  inhabitants  of 
South  Arabia  were  Cushites  or  Hamatic ;  while  some 
German  scholars  hold  that  in  the  earlier  Arabs  the 
children  of  Joktan  and  of  Cush  were  blended  into  one 
race. 

Among  the  Ishmaelites  are  included  not  only  Ish- 
mael's  direct  descendants  through  the  twelve  princes, 
but  the  Edomites,  Moabites,  Amorites,  Midianites,  and 
probably  other  cognate  tribes.  The  names  of  the  sons 
of  Ishmael  in  relation  to  their  settlements  and  the 
traces  of  these  names  in  modern  Arabic  is  a  subject 
which  has  been  taken  up  by  Bible  dictionaries,  but 
which  still  offers  an  interesting  field  for  further  study. 
120 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS      121 

The  Arabs  themselves  have  always  claimed  Abrahamic 
descent  for  the  tribes  of  the  north.  The  age-long 
racial  animosity  between  the  Yemenites  and  Maadites 
seems  to  confirm  the  theory  of  two  distinct  races  in- 
habiting the  peninsula  from  very  early  times ;  and  they 
remain  distinct  until  to-day  in  spite  of  common  lan- 
guage and  a  common  religion.  The  animosity  of  these 
two  races  toward  each  other  is  unaccountable  but  invin- 
cible. Like  two  chemical  products  which  instantly 
explode  when  placed  in  contact,  so  has  it  always  been 
found  impossible  for  Yemenite  and  Maadite  to  live 
quietly  together.  At  the  present  day  the  Yemenite  in 
the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem  detests  the  Maadite  of 
Hebron,  and  when  questioned  as  to  the  reason  of  their 
eternal  enmity,  has  no  other  reply  but  that  it  has  been 
so  from  time  immemorial.  In  the  time  of  the  Caliphs 
the  territory  of  Damascus  was  desolated  by  a  mur- 
derous war  for  two  years,  because  a  Maadite  had  taken 
a  lemon  from  a  garden  of  a  Yemenite.  The  province 
of  Murcia  in  Spain  was  deluged  with  blood  for  seven 
years  because  a  Maadite  inadvertently  plucked  a 
Yemenite  vine-leaf.  It  was  a  passion  which  sur- 
mounted every  tie  of  affection  or  interest.  'You  have 
prayed  for  your  father:  why  not  pray  for  your 
mother?"  a  Yemenite  was  asked  near  the  Kaabo. 
"For  my  mother !  "  said  the  Yemenite,  "How  could  I  ? 
She  was  of  the  race  of  Maad." 

The  Yemenites  at  a  very  early  period  founded  the 
strong  and  opulent  llimyarite  Kingdom.  The  Himy- 
arites  were  the  navigators  of  the  East,  and  they  were 


122  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

celebrated  for  their  skill  in  manufacture  as  well  as 
for  enterprise  in  commerce.  They  had  a  written  lan- 
guage, inscriptions  in  which  were  found  during  the 
nineteenth  century  all  over  Southern  Arabia.  The 
Maadite  or  Ishmaelite  Arabs,  on  the  contrary,  were 
more  nomad  in  their  habits,  and  were  masters  of  the 
caravans  which  carried  the  enormous  overland  trade 
by  the  two  great  trunk-lines  of  antiquity  from  the 
East  to  the  West.  One  of  these  lines  extended  from 
Aden  along  the  western  part  of  the  peninsula  and 
through  Yemen  to  Egypt;  the  other  extended  from 
Babylon  to  Tadmor  and  Damascus.  A  third  route, 
nearly  as  important,  #was  also  in  the  hands  of  the 
Ishmaelite  Arabs,  by  Wady  Ruma  and  Nejd  to  the  old 
capital  of  the  Himyarites,  Mareb.  These  caravans  uni- 
fied the  Arabian  peninsula  and  fused  into  one  its  two 
peoples ;  the  northern  Arabs  receiving  somewhat  of  the 
southern  civilization,  and  the  southern  Arabs  adopting 
the  language  of  the  north.  But  the  decline  in  the  cara- 
van trade  brought  disaster  to  Arabia;  the  ship  of  the 
desert  found  a  competitor  in  the  ships  of  the  sea.  Old 
settlements  were  broken  up,  great  cities,  which  flour- 
ished because  of  overland  trade,  were  abandoned,  and 
whole  tribes  were  reduced  from  opulence  to  poverty. 
In  this  time  of  transition,  long  before  the  birth  of  Mo- 
hammed, the  Arabic  nation  as  it  is  known  to  modern 
history  seems  to  have  been  formed. 

The  modern  Arabs  classify  themselves  into 
Bedouins  and  town-dwellers ;  or,  in  their  own  poetic 
way,  ahl  cl  bcit  and  ahl  cl  licit,  "  the  people  of  the 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     123 

tent,"  and  "the  people  of  the  wall."  But  this  classi- 
fication is  hardly  sufficient,  although  it  has  been  gen- 
erally adopted  by  writers  on  Arabia.  Edson  L.  Clark, 
in  his  book,  The  Arabs  and  the  Turks,  gives  five 
classes :  "Beginning  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder 
we  have  first  the  sedentary,  or  the  settled  Arabs,  who, 
although  many  of  them  still  dwell  in  tents,  have  be- 
come cultivators  of  the  soil.  By  their  nomadic  breth- 
ren these  settled  Arabs  are  thoroughly  despised  as  de- 
graded and  denationalized  by  the  change  in  their  mode 
of  life.  Secondly,  the  wandering  tribes  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  settled  districts,  and  in  constant  inter- 
course with  their  inhabitants.  Both  these  classes,  but 
more  especially  the  latter,  are  thoroughly  demoralized. 
The  third  class  consists  of  the  Arabs  of  the  Turkish 
towns  and  villages ;  but  they,  too,  are  a  degenerate 
class  both  in  language  and  character.  The  fourth 
class  consists  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  and 
villages  of  Arabia  proper,  who,  by  their  peculiar 
situation,  have  remained  more  secluded  from  the  rest 
of  the  world  than  even  the  wandering  tribes.  Finally, 
the  great  nomadic  tribes  of  the  interior,  still  preserv- 
ing unchanged  the  primitive  character,  habits,  and 
customs  of  their  race."  This  last  class,  and  this  alone, 
are  the  real  Bedouins. 

Character  is  difficult  to  define.  To  depict  the 
moral  physiognomy  of  a  nation  and  their  physical 
traits  in  such  a  way  that  nothing  important  is  omitted 
and  no  single  characteristic  exaggerated  at  the  cost 
of  others  is  difficult.    This  difficulty  is  increased  in  the 


124  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

case  of  the  Arabs,  by  their  twofold  origin  and  their 
present  twofold  civilization.  That  which  is  true  of  the 
town-dweller  is  not  always  true  of  the  Bedouin,  and 
vice  versa.  Moreover,  the  influence  of  the  neighboring 
countries  must  be  taken  into  consideration.  Eastern 
Arabia  has  taken  color  by  long  contact  with  Persia; 
this  is  seen  in  speech,  architecture,  food,  and  dress. 
South  Arabia,  especially  Hadramaut,  has  absorbed 
East  Indian  ideas.  While  western  Arabia,  especially 
Hejaz,  shows  in  many  ways  its  proximity  to  Egypt. 
Not  losing  sight  of  these  distinctions,  which  will  ac- 
count for  many  exceptions  to  the  general  statements 
made,  what  is  the  character  of  the  Arabs? 

Physically,  they  are  undoubtedly  one  of  the  strong- 
est and  noblest  races  of  the  world.  Baron  de  Larrey, 
surgeon-general  of  the  first  Napoleon,  in  his  expedi- 
tions to  Egypt  and  Syria,  says :  "Their  physical  struc- 
ture is  in  all  respects  more  perfect  than  that  of  Euro- 
peans ;  their  organs  of  sense  exquisitely  acute,  their 
size  above  the  average  of  men  in  general,  their  figure 
robust  and  elegant,  the  color  brown ;  their  intelligence 
proportionate  to  their  physical  perfection,  and  without 
doubt  superior,  other  things  being  equal,  to  that  of 
other  nations." 

The  typical  Arab  face  is  round-oval,  but  the  gen- 
eral leanness  of  the  features  detracts  from  its  regular- 
ity ;  the  bones  are  prominent ;  the  eyebrows  long  and 
bushy ;  the  eye  small,  deep-set,  fiery  black  or  a  dark, 
deep  brown ;  the  face  expresses  half  dignity,  half  cun- 
ning, and  is  not  unkindly,  although  never  smiling  or 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     125 

benignant.  The  teeth  are  white,  even,  short,  and 
broad.  The  Arabs  have  very  scanty  beards  as  a  rule, 
but  those  of  the  towns  often  cultivate  a  patriarchal 
beard  like  the  traditional  beard  of  the  prophet.  The 
figure  is  well-knit,  muscular,  long-limbed,  never  fat. 
The  arms  and  legs  are  thin,  almost  shrunken,  but 
with  muscles  like  whip-cords.  As  young  men,  the 
Bedouins  are  often  good-looking,  with  bright  eyes  and 
dark  hair,  but  the  constant  habit  of  frowning  to  pro- 
tect the  eyes  from  the  glare  of  the  sun  soon  gives  the 
face  a  fierce  aspect ;  at  forty  their  beards  turn  gray, 
and   at  fifty  they  appear  old  men. 

It  is  a  common  mistake  to  consider  the  Arabs 
democratic  in  their  ideas  of  society.  The  genuine 
Arab  was  and  is  always  an  aristocrat.  Feuds  originate 
about  the  precedence  of  one  family  or  tribe  over  an- 
other ;  marriage  is  only  allowed  between  tribes  or  clans 
of  equal  standing ;  the  whole  system  of  sheikh-govern- 
ment is  an  aristocratic  idea ;  and  as  final  proof,  there 
still  exists  a  species  of  casts  in  South  Arabia,  whib 
in  North  Arabia,  the  Ma'sdan  Arabs  of  Mesopotamia 
and  the  Sulcyb  of  the  desert  are  little  better  than 
Pariahs  as  regards  their  neighbors.  It  is  with  a  heavy 
heart  that  any  Arab  sees  set  over  him  a  man  of  less 
noble  extraction  than  himself;  hence  his  discontent  un- 
der Turkish  rule,  and  yet  the  facts  just  enumerated 
show  that  Arabia  could  hardly  govern  herself,  that  is, 
in  a  modern  sense. 

The  Arabs  are  polite,  good-natured,  lively,  manly, 
patient,  courageous,  and  hospitable  to  a  fault.     They 


126  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

are  also  contentious,  untruthful,  sensuous,  distrustful, 
covetous,  proud,  and  superstitious.  One  must  always 
keep  in  mind  this  paradox  in  dealing  with  an  Arab. 
As  Clark  says,  "an  Arab  will  lie,  cheat,  and  swear  any 
number  of  false  oaths  which  are  intended  to  confirm 
falsehoods  and  signify  nothing.  There  are  oaths, 
such  as  the  threefold  oath,  with  wa,  bi,  and  ti  as  par- 
ticles of  swearing,  which  not  even  the  vilest  robber 
among  them  dare  break. 

Robbery  is  a  fine  art  among  the  nomads;  but  the 
high-minded  Arab  robs  lawfully,  honestly,  and  honor- 
ably. He  will  not  attack  his  victims  in  the  ni  ;ht;  he 
tries  to  avoid  all  bloodshed  by  coming  with  overwhelm- 
ing force;  and  if  his  enterprise  miscarries,  he  boldly 
enters  the  first  tent  possible,  proclaims  his  true  char- 
acter and  asks  protection.  The  Dakheil,  or  privilege 
of  sanctuary,  the  salt  covenant,  the  blood  covenant, 
and  the  sacredness  of  the  guest,  all  prove  that  the 
Arabs  are  trustworthy.  And  yet,  in  the  ordinary  af- 
fairs of  life,  lying  and  deception  are  the  rule  and  sel- 
dom the  exception.  The  true  Arab  is  niggardly  when 
he  buys,  and  will  haggle  for  hours  to  reduce  a  price; 
and  yet  he  is  prodigal  and  lavish  when  giving  away 
his  goods  to  prove  his  hospitality. 

It  is  said  that  the  Arab  is  the  only  true  lover  of  the 
Orient,  and  perhaps,  if  the  Bedouin-Arab  alone  is 
meant,  this  is  true.  In  matters  of  love  and  marriage, 
the  Arab  of  the  towns  is  what  Mohammed,  the  Meccan 
Merchant,  was,  after  the  death  of  old  lady  Khadi- 
jah.    But  Arabic  poetry  of  the  times  of  ignorance  does 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     127 

occasionally  breathe  the  true  tale  of  love  and  chivalry ; 
and  the  desert  Arabs,  as  a  rule,  are  not  polygamists 
nor  given  to  divorce.  The  marriage  ceremony  among 
the  Bedouins  is  as  simple  as  it  is  long  and  complex 
among  the  townsmen.  After  the  negotiations  which 
precede  the  marriage  contract,  the  bridegroom  comes 
with  a  lamb  in  his  arms  to  the  tent  of  the  girl's  father 
and  there  cuts  the  lamb's  throat  before  witnesses.  As 
soon  as  the  blood  falls  on  the  ground  the  contract  is 
sealed ;  feasting  and  dancing  follow,  and  at  night  the 
bride  is  conducted  to  the  bridegroom's  tent  where  he 
has  preceded  her  and  awaits  to  welcome  her.  Con- 
cerning the  marriage-contract  in  the  towns,  the  cere- 
mony, the  divorce  proceedings,  and  the  methods  by 
which  that  is  made  legal,  which  even  the  lax  laws  of 
Islam  condemn,  the  less  said  the  better. 

Family  life  among  the  Arabs  is  best  studied  by 
looking  at  child-life  in  the  desert  and  at  the  position 
of  women  among  the  tent  and  town  dwellers.  In  no 
part  of  the  world  does  the  new-born  child  meet  less 
preparation  for  its  reception  than  among  the  Bedouin. 
\  land  bare  of  many  blessings,  general  poverty,  and 
the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  has  made  the 
Arab  mother  stern  of  heart.  In  the  open  desert  under 
the  shade  of  an  acacia  bush  or  behind  a  camel's  back, 
the  Arab  baby  first  sees  the  daylight.  As  soon  as  it 
is  born  the  mother  herself  cleanses  it  by  rubbing  it 
with  sand,  then  she  places  it  in  a  piece  of  cloth  and 
takes  it  home.  She  suckles  the  child  for  a  short 
period,  but  at  the  age  of  four  months  the- child  drinks 


128  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

profusely  of  camel's  milk.  A  name  is  given  to  the  in- 
fant immediately ;  generally  from  some  trifling  inci- 
dent connected  with  its  birth,  or  from  some  object 
which  attracts  the  mother's  fancy.  Moslem  names, 
such  as  Hassan,  Ali  or  Fatimah,  are  extremely  un- 
common among  the  Bedouins ;  although  Mohammed 
is  sometimes  given.  Besides  his  own  peculiar  name, 
every  Bedouin  boy  is  called  by  the  name  of  his  father 
and  tribe.  And  what  is  more  remarkable,  boys  are 
often  called  after  their  sisters ;  for  instance,  Akhoo 
Noorah,  the  brother  of  Noorah.  Girls'  names  are 
taken  from  the  constellations,  birds,  or  desert  animals, 
like  Gazelle. 

In  education  the  Arab  is  a  true  child  of  nature. 
His  parents  leave  him  to  his  own  sweet  will ;  they  sel- 
dom chastise  and  seldom  praise.  Trained  from  birth 
in  the  hard  school  of  nomad  life,  fatigue  and  danger 
contribute  much  to  his  education.  Instead  of  teaching 
the  boy  civil  manners,  the  father  teaches  him  to  beat 
and  pelt  the  strangers  who  come  to  the  tent ;  to  steal 
or  secrete  some  trifling  article  belonging  to  them. 
The  more  saucy  and  impudent  children  are,  the  more 
they  are  praised,  since  this  is  taken  as  an  indication 
of  future  enterprise  and  warlike  disposition.  Bedouin 
children,  male  and  female,  go  unclad  and  play  together 
until  their  sixth  year.  The  first  child's  festival  is  that 
of  circumcision.  At  the  age  of  seven  years,  the  day  is 
fixed,  sheep  are  killed,  and  a  large  dish  of  food  is 
cooked.  Women  accompany  the  operation  with  a 
loud  song,  and  afterwards  there  is  dancing  and  horse- 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     129 

back  riding  and  encounters  with  lances.  The  girls 
adorn  themselves  with  cheap  jewelry,  and  tent-poles 
are  decorated  with  ostrich  feathers.  Altogether  it  is 
a  gala-day. 

The  Bedouin  children  have  few  toys,  but  they  man- 
age to  amuse  themselves  with  many  games.  I  have 
seen  a  group  of  happy  children,  each  with  a  pet  locust 
on  a  bit  of  string,  watching  whose  steed  will  win  the 
race.  The  boys  make  music  out  of  desert-grass,  wind- 
ing it  in  curious  fashion  to  resemble  a  horn,  and  call- 
ing it  Masoor.  In  Yemen  and  Nejd  a  sling  like  Da- 
vid's, with  pebbles  from  the  brook  is  a  lad's  first 
weapon.  Afterward  he  acquires  a  lance  and  perhaps 
an  old  discarded  bowie-knife.  The  children  of  the 
desert  have  no  printed  books,  but  they  have  the  great 
book  of  nature  ;  and  this  magnificent  picture-book  is 
never  more  diligently  studied  than  by  those  little  dark 
eyes  that  watch  the  sheep  at  pasture  or  count  the 
stars  in  the  blue  abyss  from  their  perch  on  a  lofty 
camel's  saddle  in  the  midnight  journeyings. 

The  Bedouin  child  early  puts  away  childish  things. 
To  western  eyes  the  Arab  children  appear  like  little 
old  men  and  women  ;  and  the  grown-up  people  have 
minds  like  children.  This  is  another  paradox  of  the 
Arab  character.  At  ten  years  the  boy  is  sent  to  drive 
camels  and  the  girl  to  herd  sheep ;  at  fifteen  they  arc 
both  on  the  way  to  matrimony.  He  wears  the  garb  of 
the  man  and  boasts  a  matchlock ;  she  takes  to  spinning 
camel  hair  and  sings  the  songs  of  the  past.  Their 
brief  childhood  is  over.     In  the  towns  marriage  takes 


130  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

place  even  earlier ;  and  there  are  boys  of  eighteen  who 
have  already  divorced  two  wives. 

Perhaps  the  position  of  women  among  the  Arabs 
is  best  set  forth  by  the  Dutch  traveler,  Snouck  Hur- 
gronje,  who,  near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  spent 
a  year  in  Arab  towns: 

"What  avail  to  the  young  maiden  the  songs  of 
eulogy  which  once  in  her  life  resound  for  her  from 
the  mouth  of  the  singing-woman,  but  which  introduce 
her  into  a  companionship  by  which  she,  with  her  whole 
sex,  is  despised?  Moslem  literature,  it  is  true,  ex- 
hibits isolated  glimpses  of  a  worthier  estimation  of 
woman,  but  the  later  view,  which  comes  more  and 
more  into  prevalence,  is  the  only  one  which  finds  its 
expression  in  the  sacred  traditions,  which  represents 
hell  as  full  of  women,  and  refuses  to  acknowledge  in 
the  woman,  apart  from  rare  exceptions,  either  reason 
or  religion,  in  poems,  which  refer  all  the  evil  in  the 
world  to  the  women  as  its  root ;  in  proverbs  which 
represent  a  careful  education  of  girls  as  mere  waste- 
fulness. Ultimately,  therefore,  there  is  only  conceded 
to  the  woman  the  fascinating  charm  with  which  Allah 
has  endowed  her,  in  order  to  afford  the  man,  now  and 
then  in  his  earthly  existence,  the  prelibation  of  the 
pleasures  of  Paradise,  and  to  bear  him  children." 

The  poems  which  revile  womankind,  and  of  which 

the  Dutch  traveler  speaks,  are  legion.     Here  are  two 

examples  in  the  English  translation  from  Burton: 

"They  said,  marry  ! — I   replied, — 
Far  be  it  from  me 

To  take  to  my  bosom  a  sackful  of  snakes. 
I   am  free,   why  then  become  a   slave? 
May  Allah  never  bless  womankind." 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     131 

"They  declare  woman  to  be  heaven  to  man ; 
I  say,  Allah,  give  me  Jehannum,   not   this    heaven." 

Three  kinds  of  dwellings  are  found  in  Arabia. 
There  is  the  tent,  the  date-palm  hut,  and  the  house 
built  with  mortar,  of  stone  or  mud-brick.  The  tent  is 
distinctive,  in  a  general  sense,  of  the  interior  and  of 
Northern  Arabia;  the  palm  hut  of  the  coast  and  of 
South  Arabia ;  while  houses  of  mortar  and  brick  exist 
in  all  towns  and  cities.  The  evolution  of  the  house  is 
from  goats'-hair  to  matting,  and  from  matting  to  mud- 
roof.  Each  of  these  dwellings  is  called  belt,  "  the 
place  where  one  spends  the  night."  This  very  char- 
acterization of  the  home  shows  how  little  there  is  to 
Arabian  home  and  family  life. 

The  Bedouin  tent  consists  of  nine  poles,  arranged 
in  sets  of  three,  and  a  wide,  black  goat's-hair  covering 
so  as  to  form  two  parts ;  the  men's  apartment  being 
to  the  left  of  the  entrance  and  the  women's  to  the 
right,  separated  by  a  white  woolen  carpet  hanging 
from  the  ridge-pole.  The  posts  are  about  seven  feet 
in  height ;  the  width  of  the  tent  is  from  twenty  to 
thirty  feet,  its  depth  not  more  than  ten  feet.  The  only 
furniture  consists  of  cooking  utensils,  pack-saddles, 
water-skins,  wheat-bags,  and  millstones. 

The  date-palm  hut  is  of  different  shapes.  In  Hejaz 
and  Yemen  it  is  built  like  a  huge  beehive,  circular  and 
with  a  pointed  roof.  In  Eastern  Arabia,  it  consists  of 
a  square  enclosure  with  hip-roof,  generally  steep,  cov- 
ered with  matting  or  thatch-work.  At  Bahrein  the 
Arabs  are  very  skilful  in  so  weaving  the  date-fronds 


132  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

together  and  tightening  every  crevice  that  the  huts 
keep  out  wind  and  rain  storms  most  successfully.  The 
average  size  date-hut  can  be  built  for  from  $7  to  $10, 
and  will  last  for  several  years. 

The  stone-dwellings  of  Arabia  are  as  different  in 
architecture  and  material  as  circumstances  and  tastes 
can  make  them.  In  Yemen  large  castle-like  dwellings 
crown  every  mountain  and  frown  on  every  valley; 
stone  is  plentiful,  and  the  plan  of  architecture  inherits 
grace  and  strength  from  the  older  civilization  that 
beautified  Spain  under  the  Moors.  In  Bagdad,  Bus- 
rah,  and  East  Arabia  Persian  architecture  prevails, 
with  arches,  wind-towers,  tracery,  and  the  balcony- 
windows.  The  architecture  of  Mecca  and  Medina 
takes  on  its  own  peculiar  type  from  the  needs  of  the 
pilgrimage.  Generally  speaking,  the  Arabs  build  their 
houses  without  windows  to  the  street,  and  with  an 
open  court ;  the  harem  system  dictates  to  the  builder 
even  putting  a  high  parapet  on  the  flat  roof  against 
jealous  eyes.  Bleak  walls  without  ornament  or  picture 
are  also  demanded  by  their  surly  religion.  All  furni- 
ture is  simple  and  commonplace ;  except  where  the 
touch  of  western  civilization  has  awakened  a  taste  for 
marble-top  tables  and  music-boxes. 

In  dress  there  is  also  much  variety  in  Arabia. 
Turkish  influence  is  seen  in  the  Ottoman  provinces  and 
Indian-Persian  in  Oman,  Hassa,  and  Bahrein.  The 
Turkish  fez  and  the  turban  (which  are  not  Arabian), 
arc  examples.  The  common  dress  of  the  Bedouin  is 
the  type  that  underlies  all  varieties.     It  consists  of  a 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     133 

coarse,  cotton  shirt  over  which  is  worn  the  abba  or 
wide  square  mantle.  The  headdress  is  made  with  a 
square  cloth,  folded  across  and  fastened  on  the  crown 
of  the  head  by  a  circlet  of  woolen  rope  called  an  'ukal. 
The  color  of  the  garment  and  its  ornamentation  depend 
on  the  locality,  likewise  the  belt  and  the  weapons  of 
the  wearer.  Sandals  of  all  shapes  are  used ;  shoes  and 
boots  on  the  coast  indicate  foreign  influence.  The 
dress  of  the  Bedouin  women  is  a  wide  cotton  gown, 
with  open  sides,  generally  of  a  dark  blue  color,  and  a 
cloth  for  the  head.  The  veil  is  of  various  shapes ;  in 
Oman  it  has  the  typical  Egyptian  nose-piece  with  only 
the  middle  part  of  the  face  concealed ;  in  the  Turkish 
provinces  of  East  Arabia,  thin  black  cloth  conceals  the 
features.  Xose-  and  ear-rings  are  common.  All  Arab 
women  tattoo  their  hands  and  faces  as  well  as 
other  parts  of  the  body,  dye  with  henna,  and  use  anti- 
mony on  their  eyelashes. 

The  staple  foods  of  Arabia  are  bread,  rice,  ghee 
(or  clarified  butter).  This  last  the  Arabs  call  semu, 
the  word  ghee  being  the  Indian  name  for  the  same 
substance,  which  is  used  extensively  in  India.  Milk, 
mutton,  and  dates  are  also  used  extensively,  and  coffee 
is  the  universal  beverage.  Tea  is  widely  used,  but  was 
scarcely  known  twenty  years  ago.  Tobacco  is  smoked 
in  the  villages  and  cities,  and  the  Bedouins  are  also 
passionately  fond  of  the  weed.  And  you  will  remem- 
ber that  John  the  Baptist  flourished  on  locusts  and  wild 
honey.  These  still  abound  in  Arabia  and  form  staple 
articles  of  daily  consumption.     Locusts  may  be  found 


134  ORIENTAL  LIFE— ARABIA 

in  all  the  grocers'  shops  in  the  interior  towns  of 
Arabia.  They  are  prepared  for  eating  by  boiling  in 
salt  and  water,  after  which  they  are  dried  in  the  sun. 
They  taste  like  stale  shrimps  or  dried  herring.  The 
coast  dwellers  live  largely  on  fish,  and  in  the  days  of 
Ptolemy  they  were  called  Ichthiophagoi. 

Although  this  chapter  has  unconsciously  lengthened 
out,  we  wish  to  speak  of  one  more  thing  characteristic 
of  the  Arabs — one  that  will  add  a  little  attractiveness 
to  the  rough  life  here  sketched.  That  is  their  great 
love  for  water  and  the  uses  they  make  of  it.  Whether 
half-urban  or  half-nomad,  the  Arab  loves  water — the 
water  which  flows  and  the  water  which  fertilizes. 
He  is  a  great  poet  and  a  great  employer  of  irrigation, 
which  really  brought  about  the  wealth  of  Spain  and 
assures  that  of  Morocco.  Water  plays  a  fundamental 
role  in  the  Arab  civilization.  It  is  the  life-giving  cur- 
rent of  his  warm,  voluptuous  organism.  It  is  his 
religion,  which,  prescribing  frequent  ablutions,  has 
made  of  water  a  divine  necessity  in  the  Mussulman's 
life. 

The  sound  of  water  flowing  in  the  mosque  is  to 
the  Arab  the  sound  of  the  religious  presence  and  an 
invitation  to  spiritual  rest.  "Come  ye  to  the  waters 
of  life !  "  This  element  is  bound  up  closely  with  all 
religious  ceremonies,  and  its  wells  are  one  of  the  great- 
est, if  not  the  greatest,  factors  of  the  Arab  life.  It 
was  this  love  of  water  that  made  Arab  public  buildings, 
such  as  mosques,  baths,  and  halls  of  learning  so  beau- 
tiful. 


THE  ARABS— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS     135 

But  besides  being  poets  of  water,  the  Arabs  were 
also  the  most  artistic  makers  of  gardens.  We  recall 
what  we  have  heard  and  read  about  the  hanging  gar- 
dens of  Babylon ;  and,  while  their  skill  has  waned 
some  or  not  been  used,  the  Arabs  of  North  Africa  still 
delight  in  making  gardens.  Whenever  one  walks 
through  the  streets  of  Tangier,  looking  in  at  the  little 
ointment  booths  or  carpet  shops,  he  sees  in  front  of 
every  Arab,  as  he  toils  or  dreams,  with  his  head  on 
his  knees,  a  flower,  simply  but  tastefully  placed  in  a 
little  vase — this  is  the  Arab  cult.  The  flower,  like 
the  water,  is  for  the  Arab  a  being  living  and  immortal. 
The  Arabs  introduced  the  jasmine  and  the  camelia  into 
Spain,  and  it  was  they  who  originated  the  yellow  tea- 
rose. 

With  the  love  of  water,  flowers,  and  gardens,  with 
the  mysterious  seclusion  of  his  women,  is  it  a  wonder 
that  the  Arab  had  a  beautiful,  romantic  civilization? 

Much  of  the  intellectual  and  religious  strength  of 
the  Arab  race  still  survives,  and  it  is  believed  will  be 
wrought  eventually  into  a  new  and  modern  civilization  ' 


BURMA 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE   GOLDEN    LAND   OF    BURMA 

IN  Ptolemy's  map  of  the  world,  dating  from  the  sec- 
ond century  of  our  era,  Burma  is  marked  Chryse 
Cherson,  "The  Golden  Peninsula."  Then,  as  now,  its 
streams  were  worked  for  gold ;  but  so  little  is  now 
won  from  the  alluvial  deposits  that  its  ancient  name 
would  no  longer  be  appropriate  were  it  not  for  its 
pagodas.  These  lift  their  gilded  spires  all  over  the 
country,  and  justify  not  only  its  Greek  but  its  Indian 
title  of  Souvcrna  Bhumi,  "The  Golden  Land." 

It  is  to-day,  of  all  countries  open  to  easy  traveling, 
the  nearest  approach  to  the  ideal  East ;  the  least  spoilt, 
in  spite  of  its  oil-mills,  rice-mills,  and  timber-yards,  by 
contact  with  the  West,  and  the  most  pleasing  in  regard 
to  the  character  of  its  people. 

These  conditions,  however,  are  doomed  to  pass 
away.  The  Burmese,  originally  Indo-Chinese,  are  be- 
ing hard  pressed  by  their  ancestral  races.  By  the 
northern  frontier  and  from  over  the  seas  the  enter- 
prising  Chinamen  pour  into  the  country  in  a  steady 
stream,  absorbing  the  retail  trade  of  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, and  competing  successfully  in  the  towns ;  while 
the  famished  hordes  of  Tamils  come  over  in  their  thou- 

136 


THE  GOLDEN  LAND  OF  BURMA     137 

sands  to  cultivate  the  paddy-fields  of  the  delta  and 
press  the  idle  Burman  from  the  land. 

Up  to  the  present  no  great  harm  has  been  done, 
for  in  spite  of  the  undesirable  aliens  the  Burmese  con- 
tinue to  increase.  The  coolies  employed  in  the  towns 
are  doing  the  work  which  the  Burmese  never  at- 
tempted to  do,  and  the  Chinese  are  rather  forcing  the 
Burmese  women  out  of  business  than  competing  with 
the  men.  The  Burman  is  by  heredity  and  choice  a 
cultivator  of  the  soil,  and  as  a  field  laborer  is  unex- 
celled. But  now  he  is  being  attacked  in  his  last  strong- 
hold by  the  Tamil,  and  the  struggle  may  prove  disas- 
trous to  the  Burman,  either  on  the  material  side,  or 
by  causing  a  change  in  his  most  pleasing  character- 
istics. 

By  nature  the  Burman  is  an  indolent,  lazy  fellow, 
who  is  quite  willing  to  let  his  wife  do  all  the  work 
without  any  interference  on  his  part  as  long  as  she 
provides  him  with  plenty  of  food  to  eat  and  tobacco 
to  smoke.  But  the  idleness  of  the  Burman,  fostered 
by  the  superstitious  belief  in  lucky  and  unlucky  days, 
is  not  the  shiftless  indifference  of  the  ne'er-do-well  or 
the  sullen  apathy  of  the  weak  and  hopeless.  It  is 
rather  the  careless  optimism  of  the  philosopher  com- 
bined with  the  sportsman's  contempt  for  productive 
labor  inherited  from  a  long  line  of  freedom-loving 
ancestors.  For  the  Burmese  were  a  conquering  race, 
their  empire  had  been  successfully  defended  by  the 
sword  from  the  assaults  nf  the  surrounding  hostile 
races  and  tribes ;  and   when  the   British   took  Burma 


138  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

they  found  a  free  race  who  had  not,  as  in  India,  been 
previously  subdued  by  foreign  invaders. 

Watch  the  Burman  play  at  his  favorite  games,  or 
put  him  in  charge  of  a  boat  on  a  river  in  a  flood,  and 
you  will  find  that  he  has  a  fund  of  energy  to  expend 
on  those  things  in  which  he  takes  an  interest.  More- 
over, he  is  a  cheerful,  merry  fellow;  and,  when  not 
roused  to  sudden  jealousy,  a  very  pleasant  companion. 
But  John  Chinaman  is  taking  to  wife  the  pick  of  the 
Burmese  girls,  and  he  has  his  privilege  of  selection, 
because  he  gives  them  a  better  home,  less  work,  and 
finer  clothes  and  jewels ;  and,  as  long  as  his  sons' 
pigtails  are  left  to  his  care,  is  quite  content  to  con- 
form to  the  observances  of  the  Buddhist  religion,  and 
let  his  wife  bring  up  the  daughters  as  she  likes.  The 
mixed  race  springing  up  from  these  intermarriages  is 
a  very  good  one  indeed,  inheriting  the  cheerful  temper 
and  quick  wit  of  the  mother  together  with  the  father's 
capacity  for  work.  To  the  Chinamen  Burma  is  China, 
inasmuch  as  he  is  content  to  live,  die,  and  be  buried 
there,  and  you  may  meet  Chinamen  whose  fathers  and 
even  grandfathers  have  been  born  in  Burma.  John 
is  not  far  wrong  either,  for  Burma  was,  at  any  rate 
nominally,  tributary  to  China  as  recently  as  1881,  or 
up  to  within  five  years  of  the  time  when  England  took 
the  third  bite  and  gobbled  up  what  had  been  left  of 
the  Burmese  cherry  from  the  two  previous  bites  taken 
in  1826  and  1852. 

By  the  treaty  of  February  24,  1826.  the  coasts  of 
Tenasserim  borderinq-  on   Siam,   and  of  Arakan.  the 


THE  GOLDEN  LAND  OF  BURMA     139 

narrow  strip  between  the  mountains  and  the  Bay  of 
Bengal,  were  ceded  with  the  outlying  bits  of  Assam 
to  the  Honorable  East  India  Company  by  His  Majesty 
the  King  of  Ava.  By  proclamation  of  December  20, 
1852,  Lower  Burma  was  annexed,  and  the  Irawadi 
Valley  up  to  Prome,  as  well  as  the  valley  of  the  Sit- 
tang  up  to  a  point  about  thirty-five  miles  north  of 
Toungoo,  came  under  British  rule.  On  January  1, 
1886,  Upper  Burma  was  annexed,  and  the  whole  of 
Burma  became  a  province  of  British  India. 

Upper  Burma  was  the  real  home  of  the  Burmese 
race,  Lower  Burma  being  occupied  by  the  Talaing  or 
Mun  race ;  but  the  Burmese  have  settled  in  large  num- 
bers in  the  delta,  and  it  is  becoming  more  and  more 
difficult  to  distinguish  the  various  races  which  inhabit 
the  country. 

Practically  all  the  Burmese  are  Buddhists ;  but  the 
missionaries  have  had  considerable  success  with  some 
of  the  minor  races,  and  it  is  said  that  a  round  hundred 
thousand  of  the  Karens  are  Christians.  In  theory 
Burmese  Buddhism  is  the  purest  form  of  the  religion, 
unchanged  since  it  was  brought  to  Burma  by  Asoka's 
missionaries,  and  it  is  possible  that  some  of  the  more 
learned  monks  follow  the  tvay  indicated  by  Gawdama ; 
but,  as  a  rule,  the  Buddhism  of  the  Burman  is  so  lost 
in  a  flood  of  superstition  that  it  is  rarely  found  on  the 
surface.  The  Burmese  have,  however,  learnt  from 
their  religion  the  virtues  of  tolerance,  charitableness, 
kindheartedness,  and  hospitality  to  a  degree  beyond 
other  races.     Even  the  casual  visitor  to  their  country 


140  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

is  impressed  with  their  romantic  character  and  envies 
their  happy  disposition. 

As  in  other  Buddhist  countries,  marriage  in  Burma 
is  a  purely  secular  affair.  The  parties  agree  to  become 
man  and  wife  and  that  is  quite  sufficient.  If  there  is 
any  ceremony  at  all,  the  most  important  observance 
is  the  eating  out  of  the  same  dish,  just  as  the  Japa- 
nese drink  out  of  the  same  sake  cup.  The  wife  retains 
her  maiden  name  and  her  separate  property.  Divorce 
is  equally  simple  and  free.  In  the  villages  an  appli- 
cation to  the  elders  by  either  party  procures  a  divorce 
attested  in  writing:  the  party  claiming  the  divorce 
leaving  the  common  home.  Each  retains  the  prop- 
erty he  or  she  had  before  the  marriage  and  half  of 
what  has  been  accumulated  during  the  time  they  have 
been  husband  and  wife.  In  some  cases,  where  the 
husband  has  paid  "marriage  money"  to  get  his  bride, 
the  wife  must  repay  this  if  she  secures  the  divorce- 
In  any  event  the  wife  takes  the  female  children  and 
the  husband  the  male  children. 

There  seems  to  be  no  law  against  a  plurality  of 
wives  nor  any  stigma  attached  to  having  two  or  three 
wives  under  the  same  roof.  In  these  customs  the 
Burmans  and  the  Japanese  agree,  and  in  Burma,  as 
in  Japan,  the  family  life  of  the  peasants  is  open  to  the 
observation  of  any  traveler. 

Burmese  girls  have  had  little  of  the  educational 
advantages  of  the  boys,  but  their  free  life  gives  them 
an  early  worldly  knowledge,  and  the  Burmese  women 
have    many    attractions.      They    are    affectionate    and 


THE  GOLDEX  LAND  OF  BURMA     141 

passionate,  cheerful  and  bright,  clever  in  their  own 
affairs  and  in  business,  sharp  in  making  a  bargain, 
excellent  housekeepers,  and  generally  faithful  wives. 
The}'  are  seldom  public  prostitutes,  but  a  girl  may  be 
bought  from  her  parents.  The  negotiations  are  usu- 
ally conducted  with  the  mother,  who  is  keener  at  driv- 
ing a  good  bargain  ;  and  when  the  contract  is  made, 
the  girl  is  kept  as  a  concubine,  and  does  not  lose  cast 
by  assenting  to  such  an  arrangement.  During  these 
relations  she  is  treated  as  a  wife,  and  she  frequently 
brings  her  mother  and  children  of  previous  marriages 
to  live  at  the  house  of  her  new  husband. 

The  Burman  drapes  himself  in  a  paso,  or  putsoe, 
which  is  a  piece  of  cloth  about  fourteen  feet  long  and 
forty  inches  wide,  and  twists  a  gaily  colored  handker- 
chief around  his  head. 

The  costume  of  a  Burmese  woman  ordinarily  con- 
sists of  two  pieces ;  the  engyi  and  lungyi,  or  tamcin. 
The  former  is  a  loose  double-breasted  jacket  with 
mandarin  sleeves,  and  falls  over  the  lungyi,  which, 
whenever  the  wearer  can  afford  it,  is  of  thin  silk  and 
is  simply  a  square  of  about  five  feet  with  the  ends 
usually  sewn  together  so  that  it  is  put  on  like  a  petti- 
coat and  folded  in  over  the  right  hip.  Women  usually 
go  barefooted,  but  sometimes  wear  clogs  resembling 
the  Japanese  geta,  or  ornamental  slippers  with  a 
pointed  toe-cap  which  holds  all  but  the  little  toe. 
Decorated  with  a  certain  amount  of  jewelry,  with  a 
scarf  fta-bet)  around  her  neck,  a  wreath  of  flowers 
in  her  well-brushed  hair,  and  a  bunch  of  "Christmas 


142  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

orchids"  falling  over  her  right  ear,  the  Burmese  girl 
makes  rather  an  effective  picture.  The  older  women 
usually  wear  one  or  two  switches  or  tails  of  false  hair, 
and  rub  the  face  and  neck  over  with  white  powder 
when  making  their  toilet. 

The  Burmese  year  1272  began  on  the  15th  of 
April,  1910,  and  the  fact  that  their  era  is  so  far  be- 
hind ours  may  account  for  their  leisureliness.  For 
example,  it  took  us  the  best  part  of  two  days  to  do 
eighty-three  miles  by  rail ;  it  took  until  Wednesday 
afternoon  for  a  letter  posted  the  previous  Friday  in 
Rangoon  city  to  be- delivered  around  the  corner;  and 
it  took  over  a  quarter  of  an  hour  and  a  personal 
application  at  the  office  to  get  a  clean  towel  at  the 
leading  hotel  in  Burma.  But  there  are  compensations. 
Desiring  to  leave  Mandalay  for  Gokteik  on  a  train 
that  leaves  at  six  in  the  morning  and  makes  connec- 
tion at  Myohaung,  we  had  engaged  a  ticca-gharry  to 
call  for  us  at  the  Club  in  time  to  catch  this  train. 
But  the  gates  of  Fort  Dufferin  are  not  opened  until 
six  o'clock,  and,  owing  to  this,  our  gharry  arrived  too 
late  for  the  train.  However,  we  drove  to  the  station, 
caught  a  train  at  6:  30  a.  m.  to  Myohaung,  and  found 
the  train  for  Gokteik  still  waiting  at  the  junction, 
where  it  continued  to  wait  for  another  quarter  of  an 
hour. 

Including  the  Shan  States,  which  are  "more  or  less 
dependent,"  Burma  has  an  area  of  236,738  square 
miles,  or  over  four  times  that  of  England  and  Wales, 
and   its   population    is    estimated   at   over    10,490.000, 


THE  GOLDEN  LAXD  OF  BURMA     143 

while  the  cities  of  Rangoon,  Mandalay,  and  Moulmein 
have  respectively  234,801.  182,498,  and  55,785  in- 
habitants. Rice  is  the  principal  food  of  the  people  as 
well  as  the  principal  article  of  export ;  and  of  the 
total  cultivated  area,  which  exceeds  11,000,000  acres, 
three  out  of  every  four  acres  are  planted  with  rice. 
The  extent  of  this  resource  may  be  somewhat  com- 
prehended from  the  fact  that  during  a  recent  year 
nearly  2,300,000  tons  of  cargo  rice  was  available  for 
export,  which  amount  was  reduced  but  fifteen  per  cent 
in  converting  it  into  cleaned  rice.  Xot  only  is  the 
delta  extremely  well  adapted  to  rice-growing,  but  the 
heavy  rainfall,  averaging  from  a  hundred  to  two 
hundred  inches  at  various  places  near  the  coast,  is 
another  favorable  factor. 

Burma  has  a  resource,  found  in  such  abundance 
nowhere  else  in  the  world,  in  her  ruby  mines.  It  is 
in  the  valley  of  Mogok,  which  is  the  capital  of  what 
is  known  as  the  Ruby  Mines'  district,  that  the  finest 
and  most  highly  prized  rubies  of  the  so-called  "pig- 
eon's blood"  color  are  found.  The  mines  have  been 
worked  for  centuries  in  rude  fashion  and  the  rubies 
found  by  sinking  holes  down  to  the  ruby-bearing 
stratum,  and  then  sifting  or  washing  the  earth  raised 
therefrom.  Worked  in  this  primitive  fashion  they 
yielded  about  a  half  million  dollars'  worth  of  rubies  a 
year.  But  of  course  this  only  represented  about  one 
quarter  of  the  find,  the  majority,  and  more  especially 
the  larger  stones,  being  secreted  and  smuggled  away 
to  keep  them  from  the  greedy  Kings  of  Ava. 


144  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

It  was  not  long  after  the  British  occupation  of  the 
country  that  a  corporation  was  formed,  under  the 
presidency  of  Lord  Rothschild,  to  acquire  the  rights 
to  work  the  world-famous  Ruby  Alines  of  Burma,  and 
such  was  the  rush  to  obtain  shares  that  on  the  morn- 
ing the  subscription  list  was  opened,  the  crush  of  peo- 
ple eager  to  invest  their  money  in  the  enterprise  was 
so  great  that  Lord  Rothschild  had  to  get  into  the 
office  by  a  ladder  through  one  of  the  windows.  But 
the  mines  did  not  prove  so  profitable  as  expected,  and 
only  within  the  last  two  years  has  the  company  been 
able  to  pay  dividends.  The  hope  of  success  has  lain 
in  the  introduction  of  machinery  for  washing  the  byon 
more  cheaply  than  it  could  be  done  by  native  methods, 
by  the  introduction  of  an  electrical  power  plant,  and 
it  is  believed  that  this  has  been  accomplisbed.  The 
Burma  Ruby  Mines'  Company  now  produces  at  least 
one-half  of  the  output  of  rubies  in  the  world. 

The  value  of  rubies  found  in  1898  was  $260,775.60. 
and  in  that  year  the  first  dividend  was  paid.  Now 
washing  mills  and  electrical  power  machinery  are  in 
full  swing,  and  the  company  employs  about  forty 
Europeans  besides  a  large  number  of  natives. 

Aside  from  the  rice  crop,  the  chief  wealth  of  the 
land  lies  in  the  enormous  forests  of  teak,  now  ably 
administered  by  the  service  which  has  made  for  itself 
such  an  enviable  reputation  in  India.  At  the  lumber 
vards  near  Rangoon  all  visitors  are  astonished  at  the 
sagacity  of  the  trained  elephants  which  work  piling 
the   heavy   teak   logs   or   pushing   them   into   position 


THE  GOLDEN  LAND  OF  BURMA     145 

for  the  saws.  Away  in  the  upper  section  of  the  prov- 
ince the  elephants  may  be  seen  carrying  supplies  to 
the  camps,  bringing  the  logs  to  the  water,  and  con- 
veying the  Europeans  about  to  supervise  the  cutting 
of  the  teak. 

Taking  all  its  resources  together,  and  the  addi- 
tional asset  of  climate,  Burma  has  come  to  be  called 
"a  land  of  plenty  where  a  man  lies  on  his  back  and 
smokes,  while  prodigal  nature  works  for  him."  Some- 
thing besides  nature  works  for  the  Burman,  and  that 
is  the  women  of  Burma.  All  the  business  of  the  mar- 
ket-place, which  is  conducted  in  bazaars  as  in  most 
oriental  countries,  is  carried  on  by  the  Burmese 
women.  They  are  the  tradespeople  of  the  whole 
country,  and,  as  caste  is  non-existent,  they  are  free  to 
live  their  own  lives  as  with  us.  Neatly  dressed  in 
pretty  silks  and  linens,  they  come  nearer  to  our  West- 
ern ideas  of  what  a  charming  woman  should  be  than 
do  most  Orientals. 

Burma  is  rapidly  being  transformed  by  Western 
civilization,  and  lacks  only  development  to  make  her 
one  of  the  most  wide-awake  countries  in  the  East. 
This  development  is  being  brought  about  by  the  Eng- 
lish government,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  ensuing  chap- 
ter.* 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF   BURMA 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  steady  progress  of 
railway  and  road  construction  in  the  last  thirty 
vears,  the  improvement  of  inland  communication  forms 
one  of  the  most  urgent  needs  in  Burma.  The  railways 
of  Burma  are  all  of  metre-gauge.  The  first  line  to  be 
opened,  in  May,  1877,  was  a  line  running  from  Ran- 
goon northwards  for  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  miles 
to  the  town  of  Prome,  on  the  Irrawaddy,  about  forty- 
five  miles  below  the  then  western  frontier  military  sta- 
tion, Thayetmo.  At  that  time  along  all  the  central 
portion  for  about  one  hundred  miles  the  track,  follow- 
ing the  old  military  road  made  during  the  second  Bur- 
mese war  in  1852,  passed  mostly  through  dense  forest 
with  only  small  clearances  for  cultivation  here  and 
there ;  but  now  the  whole  valley  has  for  more  than 
fifteen  years  been  transformed  into  rice-fields,  save 
only  where  patches  of  the  primeval  jungle  were  here 
and  there  retained  as  "fuel  reserves"  for  the  railway, 
i  .r  where  other  patches,  far  too  few  in  number,  were 
afterwards  set  apart  as  "grazing  grounds"  for  the 
village  buffaloes  and  other  plow  cattle. 

Ten  years  later,  in  1884,  a  similar  line,  one  hundred 
and  sixty-six  miles  long,  was  opened  up  the  Sittang 
Valley  to  give  easy  communication  between  Rangoon 
and  the  eastern  frontier  military  station,  Toungoo,  on 

146 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  BURMA  147 

the  Sittang.  Like  the  Prome  line,  this  ran  along  the 
base  of  the  Pegu  hills,  between  them  and  the  Sittang 
River,  and  traversed  tracts  potentially  rich,  though 
scantily  populated.  It  was  therefore  chiefly  as  a  mili- 
tary strategic  line  that  this  railway  was  built,  for 
Toungoo  was  practically  cut  off  from  communication 
with  Rangoon  during  the  whole  of  the  rainy  season 
lasting  from  May  till  November.  But  it  also  lay  on 
the  most  direct  and  easy  route  to  Mandalay ;  and  when 
it  was  extended  into  Upper  Burma  after  the  annexa- 
tion, and  was  finally  opened  to  direct  traffic  from  Ran- 
goon to  Mandalay  early  in  1889,  it  soon  formed  the 
great  highway  thronged  by  immigrants  from  the  poorer 
districts  of  central  Burma,  who  came  down  in  thou- 
sands to  the  richer  uncultivated  wastes  of  the  Sittang 
Valley,  and  have  now  transformed  it  into  one  vast  rice- 
field  similar  to  the  great  plain  on  the  Irrawaddy  side. 
All  the  great  public  works  accomplished  during  the 
last  thirty  years,  and  more  especially  during  the  last 
twenty-four  years  following  the  annexation  of  Upper 
Burma,  in  the  shape  of  railways,  roads,  the  improve- 
ment of  old  irrigation  channels,  and  the  construction 
of  new  canals,  have  had  a  very  powerful  influence  on 
the  expansion  of  trade  both  within  the  province  and 
beyond  its  frontiers.  The  Burman  is  not  of  a  saving 
or  hoarding  disposition ;  what  he  makes  he  spends. 
Near  the  large  towns  and  great  centers  of  trade  he  is 
already,  however,  beginning  to  feel  the  competition  of 
men  of  other  races  and  religions,  chiefly  Hindus  from 
Bengal   and   Madras,   and   Sikhs  and   Mohammedans. 


148  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

from  Upper  India ;  and  as  time  goes  on  his  old  easy- 
going life  may  have  to  change,  and  become  more  ear- 
nest and  provident.  But  as  yet  all  the  increase  in  the 
cultivation  of  rice,  the  great  staple  product  of  the 
country,  means  that  the  larger  the  production,  the 
greater  the  surplus  available  for  export ;  and  the  larger 
the  export  business  becomes,  the  more  the  import  trade 
increases,  for  the  Burman  freely  spends  his  income  in 
ways  which  usually  more  or  less  directly  stimulate  the 
purchase  of  imported  goods,  and  benefit  the  merchants 
at  the  seaports. 

The  increase  of  the  rice  export  trade  has  been  great 
and  continuous.  And  apart  from  their  many  other 
advantages,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  railways 
have  been  one  of  the  main  factors  in  the  astonishing 
development  that  has  taken  place  in  trade.  Thirty 
years  ago  the  total  cultivated  area  in  British  Burma 
-was  2,800,000  acres,  of  which  2,500,000  were  rice,  and 
when  the  export  of  rough-milled  rice  reached  a  million 
tons  in  1880,  it  was  thought  remarkable.  Since  then 
it  has  increased  to  two  and  a  quarter  million  tons, 
worth  over  $55,000,000,  and  bringing  in  a  revenue  of 
over  $4,000,000  as  export  duty.  And  in  place  of  only 
being  roughly  husked  in  the  mills,  polished  white  rice 
is  now  mainly  exported.  And  this  output  can  be  more 
than  doubled  whenever  there  is  a  sufficient  population 
to  clear  and  till  the  twenty-five  million  acres  of  waste 
or  jungle-covered  land  suitable  for  permanent  cultiva- 
tion. The  area  now  under  crop  annually  is  about 
twelve  and  a  half  million  acres,  of  which  over,  three- 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  BURMA  149 

quarters  are  rice,  the  remaining  areas  being  chiefly 
those  used  for  sessamum,  millet,  grain,  wheat,  maize, 
various  kinds  of  peas  and  beans,  and  cotton,  through- 
out the  dry  zone  of  Upper  Burma. 

In  the  increased  rice-export  trade  Upper  Burma, 
forming  the  greater  portion  of  the  province,  takes  no 
share.  Its  annexation  actually  decreased  the  volume 
of  the  total  rice-export  temporarily,  because  Upper 
Burma  is  not  self-supporting  as  to  rice,  and  what  it 
got  from  Lower  Burma  previous  to  1886  was  then 
included  in  the  land-borne  trans-frontier  traffic.  When- 
ever there  is  famine  or  scarcity  in  India,  China,  or 
Japan,  Burma  is  the  near  and  never-failing  granary 
whence  great  stores  of  nutritive  rice  can  be  easily  ac- 
quired, whilst  still  permitting  of  a  large  export  trade 
to  Great  Britain  and  Germany.  Thus,  in  1900,  over  a 
million  tons  were  shipped  to  India  to  relieve  the  want 
then  being  caused  by  famine. 

But  it  is  not  alone  through  progressive  public  works 
that  the  government  of  Burma  has  endeavored  to  stim- 
ulate trade  and  commerce.  An  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment was  constituted  on  a  sound  basis  about  three  years 
ago,  and  qualified  experts  are  now  engaged  in  studying 
the  special  problems  of  economic  agriculture  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  province,  so  as  to  improve  the 
yield  both  in  quantity  and  quality.  And  for  the  fur- 
ther benefit  of  the  peasantry,  over  two-thirds  of  the 
entire  population  being  agriculturists,  a  Land  Aliena- 
tion Bill  has  lately  been  adopted,  which  enables  the 
cultivators  to  stay  on  the  land  they  have  cleared  and 


150  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

occupied,  and  which  anticipates  and  prevents  the  evils 
that  have  been  caused  in  other  provinces  by  unre- 
strained alienation  of  holdings.  And  at  the  same  time, 
consideration  is  likewise  being  given  to  Tenancy  Legis- 
lation, which  is  also  desirable,  though  not  yet  so  ur- 
gently necessary  as  the  law  to  restrict  alienation  by 
cultivators. 

Next  to  rice,  teak  timber  forms  the  second  staple 
of  Burma,  whose  forest  wealth  may  be  roughly  judged 
of  by  the  fact  that  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  total  area 
is  still  under  woodland  or  jungle  growth  of  one  sort 
or  another.  A  large  part  of  this,  about  twenty-five 
million  acres,  is,  of  course,  suitable  for  permanent  cul- 
tivation, and  will  in  due  time  be  brought  under  the 
plow  when  population  increases.  But  the  area  actually 
set  apart  as  "Reserved  Forests,"  to  be  maintained  for 
timber  production,  and  for  the  storage  and  regulation 
of  the  water  supply  and  the  maintenance  of  the  streams, 
and  for  other  economic  advantages,  already  extends 
to  over  20,500  square  miles,  while  much  of  the  remain- 
ing total  estimated  forest  area  of  123,500  square  miles, 
has  still  to  be  gone  over  for  the  selection  of  tracts  suit- 
able for  reservation.  In  these  forests,  the  teak  is  by 
far  the  most  valuable  tree,  for  Burma  and  Siam  are  the 
only  two  countries  which  can  furnish  large  supplies  of 
this  timber. 

The  other  chief  exports  besides  rice  and  teak  are 
petroleum,  raw  cotton,  hides,  and  skins.  Cotton  is  grown 
chiefly  in  the  north  of  Burma  in  the  dry  zone,  though 
at  present  the  area  annually  under  crop  is  only  about 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  BURMA  151 

190,000  acres.  Over  forty  years  ago  King  Mindon 
made  cotton  a  royal  monopoly,  and  started  a  spin- 
ning-mill in  Mandalay.  But  the  European  engineer 
engaged  by  him  stopped  work  whenever  his  pay  fell 
into  arrears,  and  Mindon  reverted  to  local  hand-spin- 
ning. Although  the  Upper  Burma  cotton  is  somewhat 
short  in  the  staple,  yet  a  much  larger  field  seems  open 
for  enterprise  in  its  cultivation  than  has  yet  been  util- 
ized. It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  as  late  as  1896 
no  European  firm  had  engaged  in  the  cotton  industry, 
it  being  at  that  time  entirely  in  the  hands  of  China- 
men. In  the  spring  they  advanced  money  to  the  culti- 
vators, who  hound  themselves  to  deliver  170  rupees' 
worth  of  cotton  for  every  100  rupees  advanced.  Even 
considering  the  risk  of  precarious  rainfall,  this  seemed 
a  rich  return,  even  in  a  country  where  three  per  cent 
per  mensein  is  a  usual  rate  of  interest  for  loans  on 
deposit  of  gold  jewelry  to  the  capital  amount ;  so  the 
writer  brought  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  a  mem- 
ber of  one  of  the  large  European  rice  firms  in  Ran- 
goon, and  was  surprised  to  find  that  he  did  not  think 
the  matter  worth  investigating.  The  Chinese  brokers 
were  disliked  as  harsh  creditors.  The  raw  cotton  had 
to  be  slowly  ginned  by  women  and  girls  working  hand- 
gins,  and  then  carted  either  to  the  railway  or  to  the 
Irrawaddy  before  it  could  be  transported  southwards 
to  Rangoon,  or  northwards  to  Bhamo  en  route  for 
Yunnan.  Since  then,  however,  Thazi  and  Myingyan 
have  been  connected  by  railway,  and  the  transportation 
problem     has     been     reduced     somewhat.       Spinning 


152  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

mills  and  one  or  two  presses  have  been  installed  by 
Chettees  and  Chinamen,  who  doubtless  make  large 
profits,  but  there  is  still  room  for  enterprising  Euro- 
peans or  Americans  to  engage  in  profitable  cotton  ven- 
tures. The  very  latest  word  to  be  had  from  the  Ad- 
ministration on  this  industry  is  as  follows: 

"Cotton  mills  there  are  in  plenty,  owned  for  the 
most  part  by  Chinamen,  but  they  are  nearly  all  small 
concerns.  Cotton  spinning  and  weaving  establishments 
are  non-existent,  and  all  the  cotton  garments  used  in 
Burma  are  made  from  cloth  imported  from  Europe 
and  England,  or  woven  in  slowly  decreasing  quantities 
in  the  village  hand-looms  by  the  women  of  the  family." 

A  very  healthy  feature  of  Burma's  trade  is  that 
while  foreign  maritime  commerce  is  constantly  expand- 
ing, the  coastal  trade  to  other  ports  in  the  Indian  Em- 
pire is  also  increasing  in  a  very  marked  proportion, 
although,  of  course,  in  special  years  there  is  always  an 
abnormal  increase  in  this  latter  whenever  large  quan- 
tities of  rice  have  to  be  poured  into  famine  districts. 

In  round  numbers,  the  foreign  maritime  trade  of  a 
recent  year  amounted  to  $75,000,000  (the  exports  be- 
ing $47,000,000  and  the  imports  $28,000,000),  while 
the  Indian  coastal  trade,  stimulated  by  a  great  demand 
for  rice,  rose  to  about  $65,000,000.  Rice,  of  course, 
formed  77  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  foreign  ex- 
ports, and  teak  timber  bulked  next  in  quantity  and 
value ;  but  nearly  five  thousand  tons  of  raw  cotton, 
worth  about  $1,000,000,  were  shipped,  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  which  went  to  China  and  Japan,  and  the  bal- 
ance to  Great  Britain.     The  trade  in  hides  and  skins 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  BURMA  153 

is  also  growing,  and  more  than  $500,000  worth  were 
exported.  As  might  be  expected,  the  foreign  imports 
consist  mainly  of  silk,  cotton,  and  woolen  piece-goods, 
twists  and  yarns,  iron  goods  and  hardware,  salt  and 
sugar.  One  article  of  import  has  fallen  off  of  late, 
and  that  is  kerosene.  The  development  of  the  Burma 
oil-fields  makes  it  no  longer  necessary  to  import  kero- 
sene from  America  and  Russia. 

Simultaneously  with  this  very  rapid  expansion  of 
the  maritime  trade  with  foreign  countries  and  Indian 
ports,  there  also  has  been,  as  was  to  be  expected  with 
the  improvement  of  transportation  facilities,  a  large 
increase  in  the  land  trans-frontier  trade  through  Bhann  > 
and  Myikyina  into  Western  China,  through  Lashio  into 
the  Northern  Shan  States,  and  across  the  Lower 
Burma  frontier  into  Karenni  and  Siam.  In  the  year 
already  mentioned,  this  trans-frontier  traffic  amounted 
to  $15,000,000  in  value.  The  imports  are  cattle,  ele- 
phants, silk  piece-goods,  and  miscellaneous  produce, 
and  form  more  than  one-half  of  the  total  trade.  The 
exports  are  cotton,  rice,  bullion,  and  opium. 

The  above  facts  and  figures  speak  lor  themselves, 
and  easily  refute  any  charge  that  may  be  brought 
against  the  Government  of  Burma  of  having  failed  to 
promote  the  development,  trade,  and  prosperity  of  the 
province.  The  building  of  railroads  and  the  progress- 
ive measures  being  taken  in  matters  of  education,  san- 
itation, law.  and  justice,  and  the  several  other  things 
that  go  toward  the  material  welfare  of  a  country,  show 
that  Burma  is  being  given   more  of  the   fruits  of  her 


154  ORIENTAL  LIFE— BURMA 

labor,  that  not  nearly  so  much  of  her  funds  is  being 
diverted  to  other  provinces  of  the  empire  as  formerly, 
and  that  she  is  no  longer  entitled  to  the  name  of  Cin- 
derella, or,  if  she  is,  it  is  the  transformed  Cinderella, 
made  resplendent  by  the  fairy  godmother,  Protest,  and 
the  Prince ;  the  latter  impersonatec  by  the  British 
Government. 

There  is  still  one  thing  necessary  to  Burma,  and 
that  is  population.  There  is  a  vast  area  of  nearly 
twenty-five  million  acres  of  splendid  soil  awaiting  new- 
comers for  its  clearance,  and  when  this  is  taken  into 
consideration  with  the  fact  that  there  are  vast  con- 
gested districts  in  India,  there  comes  a  possible  and 
ultimately  probable  solution  of  the  double  problem. 
Xo  matter  how  much  the  local  government  of  Burma 
may  dislike  the  idea  of  swamping  the  country  with 
Hindus  or  Mohammedans  from  the  overpopulated 
parts  of  India,  yet  such  an  influx  will  come  in  time, 
and  the  Government  of  Burma  neither  can  nor  will 
encourage  a  policy  of  closing  a  province  in  which  there 
is  ample  room  and  abundance  of  virgin  land,  now  lying 
waste  and  uncleared,  against  immigration  that  would 
relieve  the  necessities  and  distress  of  other  overpopu- 
lated provinces,  and  would  add  greatly  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  its  own  province.  The  time  seems  at  hand 
when  the  prosperity  of  Burma,  and  the  comfort  and 
happiness  of  both  the  lotus-eating  and  the  more  ener- 
getic portions  of  its  population  are  to  be  realized.' 


CEYLON 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   LAND   OF   POETRY   AND   ROMANCE 

CEYLON,  which  at  a  period  not  very  remote  was 
little  more  than  a  vague  image  of  poetry  or 
romance,  has  become  an  important  reality  to  the  mer- 
chant, the  traveler,  and  the  student  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion and  religion.  To  those  who  have  had  the  most 
extensive  experience  in  the  East  and  the  West,  the 
claim  of  Ceylon  to  be  regarded  as  the  very  gem  of  the 
earth  does  not  seem  extravagant.  In  these  few  pages 
we  shall  endeavor  to  give  some  evidence  in  support  of 
this  claim.  But  not  on  aesthetic  grounds  alone  does 
Ceylon  deserve  notice.  The  economic  results  due 
to  its  situation  in  the  eastern  seas,  a  spot  on  which 
converge  the  steamships  of  all  nations  for  coal  and  the 
exchange  of  freight  and  passengers ;  its  wealth  and 
diversity  of  agricultural  and  mineral  products ;  the  in- 
dustry of  its  inhabitants,  both  colonists  and  natives — 
these,  together  with  its  scenery  and  the  glamour  of  its 
unrivaled  remains  of  antiquity,  entitle  Ceylon  to  a  place 
of  high  distinction  among  the  dependencies  of  the 
Indian  Empire. 

In  outline  Ceylon  resembl<     a  pear  suspended  from 
the  south  of   India  by   its   stem.      Its   extreme   length 

155 


156  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

from  north  to  south  is  271  miles;  its  greatest  width 
137  miles,  and  its  area  25,000  square  miles.  A  grand 
upheaval,  culminating  in  a  height  of  8,200  feet,  occu- 
pies the  south  central  part  of  the  island  to  the  extent 
of  5,000  square  miles;  the  whole  of  this  surface  is 
broken  and  rugged,  exhibiting  a  vast*  assemblage  of 
picturesque  mountains  of  varied  elevation.  Let  us  in 
imagination  ascend  to  the  highest  point,  the  lofty  moun- 
tain of  Pidurutallagalla,  8,300  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
with  the  whole  island  at  our  feet  survey  its  geograph- 
ical features.  Looking  south,  the  immediate  prospect 
presents  Nuwara  Eliya,  an  extensive  plateau  encircled 
by  hills  and  possessing  two  lakes,  a  race-course,  two 
golf  links,  various  clubs  with  their  recreation  grounds, 
a  well-stocked  trout  stream,  a  lovely  public  garden,  sev- 
eral good  hotels,  fine  residences  dotting  the  hillsides, 
many  of  which  are  available  to  visitors,  and  for  most 
of  the  year  a  charming  climate,  bright  and  cool  as  an 
ideal  English  spring ;  and  moreover  possessing  the  im- 
portant adjunct  of  a  mountain  railway  which  conveys 
the  enervated  resident  from  the  heated  plains  to  this 
elysium  in  a  few  hours. 

Still  looking  south  we  notice  a  gap  in  the  surround- 
ing hills  through  which  a  good  carriage  road  passes 
and  rapidly  descends  a  beautiful  wooded  ravine  em- 
bellished by  a  cascaded  stream  sacred  to  the  goddess 
Sita,  until  at  the  fifth  mile,  a  small  ledge  is  reached 
o'erhung  by  the  precipitous  rock  Hakgalla.  Here  is 
one  of  the  botanical  gardens  for  which  Ceylon  is  fa- 
mous throughout  the  world ;  a  favorite  spot  for  picnics, 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AND  ROMANCE      157 

where  beneath  the  shade  of  giant  tree  ferns  and  orna- 
mental foliage  that  transcends  description  are  the  roll- 
ing downs  of  Uva.  Upon  these  patnas,  as  they  are 
locally  called,  five  thousand  Boer  prisoners-of-war  were 
encamped  during  the  late  war,  and  we  still  see  the 
buildings  erected  for  their  accommodation ;  the  ground 
now  being  used  for  local  military  purposes.  These  Uvu 
patnas  form  a  sort  of  amphitheater  amongst  the  moun- 
tains ;  the  acclivity  to  the  right  ascends  to  the  Horton 
plains  (7,000  feet  above  the  sea),  beloved  of  the  elk- 
hunter  and  the  fisher.  Curving  to  the  left,  the  heights 
form  a  ridge  beyond  which  stretches  a  magnificent 
panorama  of  undulated  lowland  aglow  in  purple  heat. 
Here  are  large  stretches  of  park  and  forest  inhabited 
chiefly  by  the  elephant,  bear,  leopard,  and  buffalo. 
Still  looking  south  but  inclining  to  the  right  the  line  of 
vision  is  in  the  direction  of  Dondra  Head,  the  southern- 
most point  of  the  island.  Behind  this  lies  a  fair  prov- 
ince where  tropical  culture  of  every  kind  abounds  and 
flourishes :  cinnamon,  citronella,  cocoanuts,  tea,  and 
rubber  are  the  chief  agricultural  products,  while  be- 
neath the  soil  lies  an  abundance  of  plumbago.  A  gleam 
of  light  upon  the  coast  gives  us  the  position  of  Ham- 
bantota ;  it  has  the  appearance  of  surf  glittering  in  the 
rays  of  the  sun ;  but  in  reality  it  is  pure  white  salt ; 
there  has  been  dry  weather  on  that  coast,  and  the 
water  of  the  shallow  lagoons,  which  are  separated  from 
the  sea  only  by  sandbanks,  has  in  process  of  evapora- 
tion deposited  its  salt  around  the  banks  and  upon  the 
beds.     In  this  simple  way  Nature  provides  enough  salt 


158  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

for  all  the  half  million  inhabitants  of  the  southern 
province.  The  southern  coast  is  remarkably  interest- 
ing in  its  scenery,  products,  and  antiquities,  while  its 
inhabitants  are,  perhaps,  the  most  purely  Sinhalese  of 
the  whole  population  of  the  island. 

Upon  our  pedestal  on  Pidurutallagalla  we  now  turn 
to  the  west,  and  face  Colombo,  distant  from  us  but 
sixty-five  miles  as  the  crow  flies.  For  half  the  distance 
mountain  ranges,  interlaced  in  intricate  confusion,  with 
peaks  and  spurs  all  forest  clad,  lie  outstretched.  On 
their  ledges  and  spreading  over  their  steep  declivities 
are  the  thousand  tea  estates  for  which  the  island  is  so 
justly  famous.  Dimbula,  Lindula,  Maskeliya,  Boga- 
wantalawa,  and  Dolosbage  lie  here  at  varying  eleva- 
tions. They  terminate  where  the  Kelani  Valley  begins 
its  descent  to  the  lowlands  and  extends  its  cultivation 
to  the  western  shore. 

We  now  make  a  complete  turn  about  and  survey 
the  eastern  part  of  the  country.  Here  we  notice  the 
mountain  railway  ascending  from  Nuwara  Eliya  to 
Kandapola  (6,323  feet),  whence  it  descends  into  the 
heart  of  the  Udapussellawa  tea  district.  The  lovely 
town  of  Badulla  lies  twenty  miles  away  surrounded  by 
lofty  and  striking  mountains.  Farther  distant  at 
Lunugala  the  scenery  is  still  more  remarkable.  Here 
the  eastern  borders  of  the  great  central  highlands  are 
reached,  and  at  their  base  a  mass  of  forest-clad  foot- 
hills extends  northward  through  what  is  known  as  the 
Bintenne  country,  the  home  of  the  wild  men  who  still 
exist  in  Ceylon,  a  miserable  remnant  of  an  aboriginal 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AXD  ROMANCE      159 

race.  On  the  eastern  coast  there  is  a  long  strip  of 
alluvial  plain  extending  north  and  south  for  upwards 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  and  from  ten  to  thirty 
miles  inland.  For  the  most  part  this  land  is  unculti- 
vated park,  forest,  and  jungle.  It  is  the  retreat  of  wild 
animals  and  birds  of  gorgeous  plumage.  Innumerable 
rivers  flow  through  it  to  the  sea ;  these  have  apparently 
varied  their  courses  from  time  to  time  under  the  influ- 
ence of  tropical  torrents  and  have  thus  formed  count- 
less still  lakes  and  canals,  the  banks  of  which  are  cov- 
ered with  mangroves  of  enormous  size.  The  east  coast 
is  centered  by  the  town  of  Batticaloa,  famous  for  its 
plantations  of  cocoanuts,  extending  north  and  south 
for  fifty  miles. 

Northwards  the  rugged  and  beautiful  Maturatta  is 
nearest  our  view,  and  to  the  left  of  it  the  better-known 
Ramboda  pass  leading  through  Pussellawa  into  the 
Kandvan  country,  where  lovely  scenery,  quaint  cus- 
toms, interesting  temples,  and  strange  ceremonials  con- 
spire to  provide  a  veritable  paradise  for  the  tourist, 
who  here  enjoys  easy  means  of  communication  and  a 
pleasant  temperature.  Europe  knows  nothing  of  the 
scenes  or  the  life  that  greet  us  here.  There  is  nothing 
somber  or  monotonous  in  the  Kandvan  country.  End- 
less variety  characterizes  the  landscape  and  vivid  con- 
trast* the  foliage.  Precipitous  heights  and  narrow 
passes  for  centuries  denied  the  white  man  possession 
of  this  ancient  and  beautiful  kingdom,  where  railways, 
marvels  of  engineering,  now  encircle  the  heights  and 
a  network  of  excellent  roads   affords   easy   access  to 


160  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

every  feature  of  interest.  In  the  haze,  as  we  look  far- 
ther north,  the  mountains  fall  away  in  long  spurs  that 
radiate  in  various  directions,  the  farthermost  stretching 
towards  the  lake  of  Minneriya  (1,000  feet),  an  object 
of  great  interest  in  the  history  of  Buddhism  ;  and  the 
famous  solitary  rock  of  Sigiriya,  the  fortified  retreat 
of  King  Kasyapa  in  the  fifth  century.  To  the  left  lies 
the  northwestern  province  with  its  capital  town  of 
Kurunegala,  once  the  seat  of  kings.  This  is  a  lowland 
province  reaching  from  the  northern  Kandyan  borders 
to  the  western  shore,  chiefly  devoted  to  the  cultivation 
of  cocoanut  palm,  of  which  there  are  thirty  thousand 
acres.  Interspersed  with  these  plantations  are  vast 
stretches  of  paddy-fields  in  the  low  lying  swamps.  A 
characteristic  feature  of  the  coast  is  its  great  salt  la- 
goons, where  this  precious  article  of  diet  is  obtained 
in  even  larger  quantities  than  at  Hambantota.  Still 
farther  north,  and  stretching  across  the  island  almost 
from  shore  to  shore  is  an  almost  uncultivated  and  com- 
paratively uninhabited  province,  yet  possessing  anti- 
quarian interest  second  to  none  in  the  world ;  for  here 
lie  the  remains  of  ancient  cities  which  at  the  zenith  of 
their  greatness  extended  over  greater  areas  than  Lon- 
don to-day,  and  contained  buildings  of  greater  size 
than  any  of  which  Europe  can  boast.  The  cities  are 
surrounded  by  the  ruins  of  an  irrigation  system  still 
more  wonderful.  Into  the  heart  of  this'  district  the 
tourist  can  now  journey  in  all  the  luxury  of  a  broad- 
gauge  railway.  The  buildings  still  towering  hundreds 
of  feet  above  the  soil  are  open  to  his  inspection,  and 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AND  ROMANCE      161 

their  history,  carefully  compiled  from  authentic  rec- 
ords, can  be  had  for  the  reading.  After  this  archaeo- 
logical feast,  a  pleasant  excursion  may  be  made  to 
Trincomale,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  harbors  in  the 
world;  or  the  railway  will  convey  the  traveler  to  the 
northernmost  part  of  the  country,  the  peninsula  of 
Jaffna,  which  abounds  in  interest  as  being  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  rest  of  Ceylon.  It  is  a  change  in  soil, 
climate,  products,  and  people.  Here  that  born  agri- 
culturist the  Tamil  has  brought  every  acre  of  ground 
under  cultivation ;  the  climate  being  dry,  tobacco  fields 
take  the  place  of  paddy,  and  the  beautiful  palmyra 
palm  is  a  special  characteristic  of  the  landscape.  The 
absence  of  rivers  in  the  peninsula  is  noticeable,  the  land 
being  fertilized  by  filtration  from  large  shallow  estu- 
aries. 

Now  we  know  something  about  the  physical  fea- 
tures of  this  marvelous  land,  and  it  will  not  be  unin- 
teresting to  know  something  about  its  history.  Three 
thousand  years  ago  when  the  Sanskrit-speaking  peo- 
ple, the  Aryans  of  the  north  of  India,  had  not  as  yet 
emerged  from  obscurity,  the  whole  of  Ceylon  was  peo- 
pled by  barbarous  tribes,  a  wretched  remnant  of  whom 
still  exist  in  the  wilds  of  the  Bintenne  country.  But 
before  the  dawn  of  civilization  fell  upon  England, 
history  tells  us  of  the  marvelous  colonization  of  Cey- 
lon. People  of  the  Aryan  race  had  discovered  the 
wonderful  resources  of  this  beautiful  island,  had  con- 
quered and  colonized  it,  and  by  a  system  of  irrigation, 
which  is  the  admiration  of  the  greatest  engineers  of  our 


162  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

own  time,  had  brought  the  whole  country  into  a  high 
state  of  culture ;  moreover,  they  had  built  beautiful 
cities,  the  remains  of  which  at  this  day  hold  a  pre- 
eminent position  amongst  the  wonders  of  the  world 
When  we  come  fully  into  the  domain  of  authentic  his- 
tory, some  three  centuries  before  the  present  era,  we 
rind  these  people  of  the  Aryan  race  a  great  nation  of 
Sinhalese  in  a  high  state  of  civilization  for  the  period, 
and  numbering  probably  ten  millions.  But  as  the  cen- 
turies rolled  on,  evil  times  fell  upon  them.  The  Dra- 
vidian  races  of  southern  India  were  becoming  power- 
ful and  made  frequent  incursions  upon  them,  over- 
throwing their  kingdom,  plundering  their  treasures, 
and  even  occupying  the  Sinhalese  throne  for  long 
periods.  In  the  ruined  cities  mentioned  one  can  read 
the  history  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  great  nation. 

The  first  intrusion  of  the  white  man  took  place  in 
the  year  1506,  when  the  Portuguese,  who  had  for 
eight  years  maintained  a  fleet  in  Indian  waters,  acci- 
dentally discovered  Ceylon  while  on  one  of  their 
piratical  expeditions  for  Moorish  vessels  trading  be- 
tween Cambray  and  Sumatra.  On  this  occasion,  after 
some  palaver  with  the  owners  of  the  Moorish  ships  off 
Colombo,  the  Portuguese  captain,  Major  Dorn  Lou- 
renco,  sent  an  embassy  to  the  King  at  Cotta,  who  en- 
tered into  a  treaty  of  mutual  friendship  and  trade, 
and,  moreover,  permitted  the  erection  of  a  stone  monu- 
ment at  Colombo  to  commemorate  the  discovery  of 
Ceylon.  Historians  are  not  altogether  in  agreement 
regarding  this  event ;  but  there  still  exists  a  rock  near 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AND  ROMANCE      163 

the  harbor  of  Colombo  engraved  with  the  Portuguese 
Royal  Arms  and  the  date  1501.  It  is,  however,  diffi- 
cult to  reconcile  the  engraved  date  with  the  general 
historical  facts  of  the  period,  which  go  to  prove  the 
year  1506  as  the  date  of  discovery.  The  Portuguese 
remained  but  a  short  time  upon  their  first  visit,  but 
kept  up  intercourse,  with  Ceylon  in  the  threefold  char- 
acter of  merchants,  missionaries,  and  pirates,  a  com- 
bination which  they  had  found  effective  in  obtaining 
settlements  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  India,  and  Malacca, 
and  a  few  years  later  they  obtained  a  stronghold  at 
Colombo.  The  period  was  favorable  to  their  enter- 
prise. Political  authority  throughout  Ceylon  had  be- 
come divided  amongst  numerous  minor  kings  or  chiefs 
who  held  imitation  courts  in  at  least  half  a  dozen  petty 
capitals.  The  north  was  in  possession  of  the  Tamils, 
and  the  sea-ports  were  controlled  by  the  Moors.  The 
monarch  of  the  southwest  was  Dharma  Parakrama  IX., 
whose  good-will  was  craftily  gained  by  a  promise  on 
the  part  of  the  Portuguese  admiral  to  aid  him  with 
military  services  in  his  difficulties  due  to  the  intrigues 
and  ambitions  of  other  claimants  to  the  throne.  Thus 
did  the  Portuguese  first  obtain  their  footing  in  Co- 
lombo. They  soon  erected  a  fort,  under  the  guns  of 
which  they  could  trade  in  spite  of  the  hostility  of  the 
Moors;  and  although  the  latter  besieged  them  for 
many  months,  they  succeeded  in  establishing  them- 
selves securely,  eventually  gaining  possession  of  all  the 
maritime  provinces,  of  which  they  remained  the  mas- 
ters for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.     But  for  them 


164  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

Ceylon  proved  a  hornets'  nest  rather  than  a  bed  of 
roses.  The  Sinhalese  of  the  interior  did  not  at  all 
approve  of  the  alliance  between  Parakrama  and  the 
Europeans,  and  with  remarkable  courage  they  attacked 
the  allies  persistently,  and  with  such  vigor  that  by  the 
year  1653  the  Royal  stronghold  of  Cotta  fell,  and  the 
humiliated  king  thenceforward  resided  within  the 
Avails  of  Colombo  under  the  more  immediate  protection 
of  the  Portuguese  guns.  So  bitterly  was  the  intrusion 
of  the  Portuguese  resented  by  the  majority  of  the  Sin- 
halese that  all  their  settlements  on  the  coast  were  fre- 
quently attacked  and  the  inhabitants  put  to  death. 
The  struggle  lasted  without  intermission  the  full  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  Portuguese  occupation.  It 
is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  spirit  of  patriotism 
which  sustained  the  Sinhalese  in  their  continued  war- 
fare over  so  long  a  period.  The  arts  of  war  introduced 
by  the  foreigner  were  so  rapidly  learnt  and  improved 
upon,  especially  in  the  manufacture  of  weapons,  that 
they  excelled  the  Portuguese,  and  on  more  than  one 
occasion  defeated  them  in  the  field  owing  to  superior 
acquaintance  in  the  use  of  arms  and  the  tactics  that 
had  been  first  employed  against  them.  Moreover, 
these  sturdy  patriots  had  to  contend  not  only  with  the 
Portuguese,  but  with  large  bands  of  their  own  country- 
men who  had  been  won  over  to  the  enemy. 

At  length  Ceylon  was  lost  to  the  Portuguese,  who 
were  succeeded  by  the  Dutch  under  circumstances  that 
may  be  briefly  related.  The  Portuguese  had  been  in 
possession  of  the  carrying  trade  between  Europe  and 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AND  ROMANCE      165 

the  East  for  nearly  a  century  when  Philip  II.  of  Spain 
acquired  the  kingdom  of  Portugal  and  at  the  same  time 
lost  the  allegiance  of  the  United  Provinces,  who,  in 
their  struggle  for  independence,  organized  a  powerful 
navy  to  protect  their  merchant  vessels  engaged  in  sea 
carriage  between  European  ports.  Philip  struck  at 
this  commerce,  and  in  doing  so  ultimately  brought  dis- 
aster to  the  Portuguese.  The  Dutch  carried  on  a  con- 
siderable trade  upon  the  Tagus  in  purchasing  the  car- 
goes brought  from  the  East  by  the  Portuguese  and 
transporting  them  to  the  northern  capital.  This  traffic 
being  interrupted  by  the  short-sighted  policy  of  Philip, 
the  Dutch  turned  their  attention  to  the  East  and  sub- 
verted the  Portuguese  monopoly  there.  In  May,  1602, 
the  first  Dutch  ship  seen  in  Ceylon  anchored  off  Bat- 
ticaloa.  Its  commander,  Spilberg,  with  some  diffi- 
culty ingratiated  himself  with  the  local  chief  who  fa- 
cilitated his  journey  to  Kandy,  where  he  offered  King 
Wimla  Dharma  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
with  the  Prince  of  Orange.  This  alliance  was  ac- 
cepted with  alacrity,  the  Kandyan  king  being  delighted 
at  the  prospect  of  ousting  his  bitter  enemies,  the  Por- 
tuguese. The  Portuguese  were  not  entirely  expelled 
from  Ceylon  for  many  years,  and  we  have  not  time  to 
go  into  detail  here  concerning  the  struggles.  Their 
last  stronghold,  Colombo,  capitulated  May  17,  1656, 
and  the  Dutch  became  masters  of  every  port  in  the 
island.  They  had  taken  them  in  the  name  of  Rajah 
Sinha,  acting  under  a  treaty  with  that  monarch  so 
worded  that  he  had  a  right  to  expect  them  to  regard 


166  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

themselves  as  occupying  the  recovered  territories  in 
his  behalf.  They  preferred,  however,  to  place  on  the 
treaty  an  interpretation  more  favorable  to  themselves, 
and  occupied  the  fortresses  as  their  own  by  right  of 
conquest.  Thus  the  Kandyans  were  duped,  and  found 
that,  notwithstanding  their  brave  efforts,  they  had 
merely  exchanged  Portuguese  for  Hollander,  and  were 
still  confined  to  their  fastnesses  in  the  central  mountain 
zone.  And  it  was  not  in  the  hearts  of  the  Hollanders 
to  do  anything  for  the  benefit  of  the  Kandyans.  Un- 
like the  Portuguese,  they  dissipated  none  of  their 
strength  in  fanatical  missionary  zeal ;  their  whole 
thought  and  energy  were  directed  to  securing  trade 
monopoly.  By  means  of  a  string  of  greatly  improved 
forts  at  all  the  ports  serving  the  cinnamon  country 
and  other  rich  parts  of  the  island  they  were  able  to 
repel  the  incursions  of  the  Kandyans,  and  to  insure 
that  nothing  was  exported  save  through  their  factories. 
The  remains  of  their  forts  at  this  day  abundantly  prove 
how  thoroughly  they  carried  out  this  policy.  The 
brave  Kandyans,  enduring  all  this  with  impatience, 
frequently  put  them  to  the  sword,  heaped  upon  them 
contumely  and  outrage,  and  even  executed  their  am- 
bassadors. To  such  treatment  the  Dutch  replied  only 
with  further  blandishments  and  presents  and  new  em- 
bassies, by  which  means  they  sought  to  allay  resent- 
ment while  they  secured  the  wealth  and  produce  of  the 
country  and  shipped  it,  not  only  to  Europe,  but  to 
India,  Persia,  and  other  countries  of  the  East.  Com- 
merce was  their  one  and  only  object,  and,  to  preserve 


THE  LAND  OF  POETRY  AND  ROMANCE      167 

this,  a  policy  unworthy  of  conquerors  was  maintained 
toward  the  Kandyans  during  the  whole  of  the  Dutch 
period  in  Ceylon.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  policy  of  obtain- 
ing wealth  by  any  and  every  artifice,  a  method  not  un- 
known to  or  unpracticed  by  even  prouder  nations  at 
this  period. 

YVe  have  seen  how  in  turn  the  Portuguese  and  the 
Dutch  came  into  partial  possession  of  Ceylon  and  what 
use  they  made  of  their  conquests.  We  now  proceed 
to  the  British  period  and  the  consideration  of  the  so- 
cial and  economic  changes  that  followed  on  the  British 
occupation.  The  attention  of  Great  Britain  was  not 
turned  to  Ceylon  with  ideas  of  conquest  until  late  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  when  it  became  absolutely  nec- 
essarv  that  it  should  be  added  to  the  Indian  possessions 
of  the  British  Crown.  The  Dutch  had  never  done 
more  than  occupy  the  maritime  provinces  in  military 
fashion.  It  remained  for  the  British  to  introduce  civi- 
lized colonization  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  island,  and  to  develop  its  resources.  The  rup- 
ture between  Great  Britain  and  Holland  in  1795  was 
the  occasion  for  sending  a  force  against  Ceylon.  The 
King  of  Kandy  was  as  anxious  now  to  ally  himsef 
with  the  English  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Dutch  as  his 
predecessor  had  been  to  ally  himself  with  the  Dutch 
for  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese ;  but  before  nego- 
tiations had  been  completed  the  English  had  taken 
possession  of  all  the  fortresses.  Trincomale,  after  a 
siege  of  three  weeks,  was  the  first  to  fall ;  Jaffna  next 
surrendered ;   Calpentyn  and   Xegombo  were   in  turn 


168  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

occupied;  Colombo  and  the  rest  capitulated,  and  by 
February  16,  1796,  the  occupation  was  complete.  The 
Dutch  were  not  driven  out  by  the  English  as  the  Por- 
tuguese were  by  the  Dutch.  On  the  contrary,  their 
property  was  preserved  to  them,  their  institutions  were 
upheld,  their  code  of  laws  adopted,  and  public  offices 
of  trust  were  awarded  to  them  which  their  descend- 
ants hold  to  this  day.  A  short  period  of  mismanage- 
ment followed  the  annexation.  The  administration  of 
the  new  colony  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Madras  who  gave  great  offense  to  the  Sin- 
halese by  sending  over  incompetent  civilians  assisted 
by  Malabar  subordinates  to  collect  the  revenues.  The 
unwisdom  of  this  policy  was,  however,  soon  rectified 
by  the  home  government,  who  decided  that  Ceylon 
should  be  governed  by  the  Crown  direct  by  means  of 
a  responsible  governor  and  civil  officers  appointed  by 
the  King.  The  beneficent  policy  thus  introduced  grad- 
ually wrought  the  change  that  has  made  Ceylon  one 
of  the  freest,  happiest,  most  prosperous  and  attractive 
countries  in  the  world.™ 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    DEVELOPMENT    AND    RESOURCES    OF    CEYLON 

IT  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that  Ceylon  is  con- 
trolled by  the  administration  of  India.  Ethnolog- 
ically  only  is  it  a  part  of  India.  Geographically,  po- 
litically, and  in  every  other  way  it  is  distinct  from  the 
adjoining  continent.  Its  system  of  government  is  that 
of  a  Crown  Colony,  which  literally  means  autocratic 
rule  by  the  minister  who  happens  for  the  time  being 
to  preside  over  the  Colonial  Office  in  London ;  but  the 
actual  administration  is  in  the  hands  of  a  Governor, 
assisted  by  an  Executive  Council  of  the  five  chief  offi- 
cials of  the  Colony.  The  local  legislature  consists  of 
the  Governor,  the  above  councillors,  four  other  gov- 
ernment officials  of  the  civil  service,  and  eight  unoffi- 
cial members  appointed  by  the  Governor.  From  this 
preponderance  of  officials  and  the  circumstance  that 
all  ordinances  are  subject  to  the  sanction  or  veto  of 
the  Secretary  of  State  in  London,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  people  have  little  voice  in  the  government  of  the 
colony.  Nevertheless,  public  opinion  through  the  press 
has  its  influence  upon  the  council,  which  usually  acts 
with  wisdom  and  discretion.  The  fact  that  all  sections 
and  classes  of  the  population  are  prosperous  and  con- 
tented is  the  best  defense  of  the  system,  which,  how- 
ever objectionable  it  may  seem  in  theory,  works  well 
in  practice.    The  power  and  responsibility  for  good  or 


170  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

ill  placed  in  the  hands  of  Governors  of  Ceylon  have 
never  been  misused.  The  Governors  have  been  a 
series  of  men  remarkable  for  their  industry  and  their 
capacity  for  directing  the  destinies  of  the  country 
placed  in  their  charge,  and  to  them  is  mainly  due  its 
present  high  place  among  British  possessions. 

The  Governor  receives  his  appointment  from  the 
Crown,  generally  for  a  term  of  six  years,  and  his  pow- 
ers are  controlled  only  by  the  authority  of  the  Crown. 
The  adoption  or  rejection  of  the  advice  and  enactments 
of  his  councils  and  legislature  rests  entirely  with  him- 
self. He  can  overrule  their  deliberations  or  nullify 
their  labors ;  but  the  necessity  for  such  extreme  meas- 
ures has  scarcely  ever  arisen.  The  functions  of  the 
government  are  carried  out  by  a  civil  service  organized 
on  the  model  of  that  of  India.  Each  of  the  nine  prov- 
inces into  which  the  island  is  divided  has  its  chief  and 
assistant  government  agents,  who  are  responsible  tc 
the  central  Government. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  be  considered  in  the 
development  of  a  country  is  its  railroads  and  high- 
ways. Fortunately  Ceylon  is  well  equipped  in  both 
respects.  Her  railways  now  afford  an  easy  and  even 
luxurious  means  of  reaching  the  most  attractive  parts 
of  the  country.  They  render  easily  and  quickly  acces- 
sible the  most  beautiful  scenery,  the  most  interesting 
antiquities,  and  all  those  fields  of  agricultural  industry 
— the  tea,  the  cocoanut,  the  rubber,  which  have  brought 
about  the  advanced  state  of  prosperity  which  the 
Colony  enjoys.     No  other  country  in  the  world  can 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLON    171 

take  you  in  such  spacious  and  comfortable  coaches, 
on  a  track  of  five  feet  six  inches  gauge,  over  moun- 
tains at  an  altitude  of  more  than  six  thousand  feet. 
Yet  such  facilities  are  provided  in  Ceylon. 

The  Ceylon  Government  Railways  are  state-owned, 
as  their  name  implies,  and  are  under  the  control  of  the 
Ceylon  Government.  The  total  mileage  is  five  hundred 
and  twenty-six  miles,  of  which  four  hundred  and 
ninety-five  are  on  the  broad  gauge  {SJ/2  feet)  and 
sixty-seven  on  the  narrow  gauge  (2l/2  feet). 

The  rolling  stock  of  the  railway  is  now  constructed 
locally  in  the  workshops  in  Colombo,  where  upwards 
of  three  thousand  workmen  are  employed  under  the 
superintendence  of  skilled  European  foremen.  These 
shops  are  well  equipped  with  pneumatic  and  other 
labor-saving  machinery,  whilst  new  tools  are  being 
added  year  by  year.  The  older  type  of  four-wheeled 
carriages  were  imported  from  England  and  used  in 
the  colony,  and  there  are  still  a  good  many  of  these 
on  the  line,  but  they  are  being  steadily  replaced  by  the 
standard  type  of  bogie  carriage  forty-two  feet  long. 
These  modern  carriages,  which  are  constructed  of 
teak,  are  not  on  the  Indian  type  with  longitudinal 
seats,  but  on  the  English,  and  are  furnished  with  ex- 
cellent lavatory  accommodation.  The  outside  of  the 
carriages  is  of  varnished  teak,  whilst  the  interiors  are 
of  the  same  wood,  picked  out  with  satinwood  and 
adorned  with  photographs  of  interesting  places  on  the 
line.  The  lines  are  well  provided  with  sleeping  and 
refreshment  cars,  the  former  running  on  the  up  and 


172  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

down  night  mail  trains  between  Colombo  and'Nanu- 
oyam,  whilst  the  latter  are  run  on  the  principal  trains 
between  Colombo,  Kandy,  and  up-country  stations. 

Some  of  the  most  valuable  products  of  Ceylon  are 
rubber,  cocoanuts,  tobacco,  rice,  tea,  and  the  various 
spice  products,  such  as  cinnamon,  cloves,  pepper;  all 
kinds  of  nuts  and  fragrant  and  medicinal  gums  are  to 
be  found  also  in  Ceylon,  to  say  nothing  of  her  valuable 
woods,  including  teak,  ebony,  sandalwood,  satinwood, 
and  bamboo.  Most  all  tourists  go  to  Henaratgoda  to 
visit  the  Botanical  Garden,  where  some  of  the  most 
important  experiments  have  been,  and  are  still  being, 
made.  The  garden  is  one  of  a  number  of  such  institu- 
tions that  are  under  the  Government  Department  of 
Botany  and  Agriculture,  with  headquarters  at  Pera- 
deniya,  where  its  director  and  his  extensive  scientific 
staff  of  experts  reside.  The  Henaratgoda  gardens 
were  opened  in  1876  for  the  purpose  of  making  ex- 
periments in  ascertaining  suitable  products  for  culti- 
vation in  the  heated  lowlands.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  the  Para  rubber  seed  was  planted,  and  many  of 
the  trees  that  we  see  there  to-day  are  therefore  more 
than  thirty  years  old. 

Had  we  space  in  this  brief  chapter  we  should  like 
to  go  into  details  regarding  rubber  culture  and  the 
preparation  of  the  raw  material  that  is  shipped  from 
Ceylon  all  over  the  world.  The  raw  material  that  is 
shipped  is  the  extracted  milk  of  the  plant  secured  by 
tapping  the  trees.  This  milk  is  then  condensed  into 
biscuits  or  blocks  and  shipped  to  the   manufacturer. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLON    173 

By  the  manufacturer  it  must  be  torn  to  shreds,  melted 
and  mixed  with  certain  chemicals  and  ingredients  nec- 
essary to  its  use  for  manufactured  articles.  This  is  a 
long  and  expensive  process,  and  it  is  believed  by  cer- 
tain parties  in  Ceylon  that  these  chemicals  can  be 
mixed  with  the  latex  as  soon  as  it  is  taken  from  the 
trees,  and  the  manufactured  products  created  on  the 
grounds.  If  this  could  be  brought  about,  it  would 
mean  a  great  future  for  Ceylon,  as  all  kinds  of  rubber 
trees  and  plants  grow  freely  in  the  soil  of  the  island, 
and  there  are  thousands  of  acres  of  waste  land  that 
could  be  utilized  for  this  purpose. 

The  cocoanut  is  the  chief  source  of  Sinhalese 
wealth  :  but,  unlike  some  other  tropical  products,  de- 
pends on  man  for  its  existence,  and  if  left  to  nature, 
it  pines  and  dies.  It  is  true,  therefore,  that  wherever 
you  see  the  cocoanut  palm  there  you  will  find  popula- 
tion. Although  European  colonists  have  considerably 
extended  its  cultivation,  it  is  pre-eminently  the  national 
tree,  the  friend  of  the  natives,  all  of  whom  share  in 
its  benefits,  from  the  wealthy  owner  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  trees  to  the  humble  possessor  of  a  tithe  of  one. 
There  are  few  gifts  of  the  earth  about  which  so  much 
may  be  said  ;  its  uses  are  infinite,  and  to  the  Sinhalese 
villager  it  is,  as  the  date  palm  is  to  the  Arab,  all-suffi- 
cient. With  the  trunk  of  the  tree  he  builds  his  hut 
and  his  bullock-stall,  which  he  thatches  with  its  leaves. 
His  bolts  and  bars  are  slips  of  the  bark,  by  which  he 
nspends  the  small  shelf  which  holds  his  stock  of 
household   utensils  and  vessels.     He   fences  his   little 


174  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

plot  of  chillies,  tobacco,  and  fine  grain  with  the  leaf 
stalks.  The  infant  is  swung  to  sleep  in  a  rude  net  of 
coir-string  made  from  the  husk  of  the  fruit;  its  meal 
of  rice  and  scraped  cocoanut  is  boiled  over  a  fire  of 
cocoanut  shells  and  husks,  and  is  eaten  from  a  dish 
formed  from  the  plaited  green  leaves  of  the  tree  with 
a  spoon  cut  out  of  the  nut-shell.  When  he  goes  fish- 
ing by  torch-light  his  net  is  of  cocoanut  fiber,  the 
torch  or  chule  is  a  bundle  of  dried  cocoanut  leaves  and 
flower-stalks ;  the  little  canoe  is  the  trunk  of  the  cocoa- 
palm  tree ;  hollowed  by  his  own  hands.  He  carries 
home  his  net  and  string  of  fish  on  a  yoke,  or  pingo, 
formed  of  a  cocoanut  stalk.  When  he  is  thirsty,  he 
drinks  of  the  fresh  juice  of  the  young  nut;  when  he  is 
hungry,  he  eats  its  soft  kernel.  If  he  have  a  mind  to 
be  merry,  he  sips  a  glass  of  arrack,  distilled  from  the 
fermented  juice,  and  he  flavors  his  curry  with  vinegar 
made  from  this  toddy.  Should  he  be  sick,  his  body 
will  be  rubbed  with  cocoanut  oil ;  he  sweetens  his 
coffee  with  jaggery  or  cocoanut  sugar,  and  softens  it 
with  cocoanut  milk ;  it  is  sipped  by  the  light  of  a 
lamp  constructed  from  a  cocoanut  shell  and  fed  by 
cocoanut  oil.  His  doors,  his  windows,  his  shelves,  his 
chairs,  the  water  gutter  under  the  eaves  are  all  made 
from  cocoanut  wood.  His  spoons,  his  forks,  his  ba- 
sins, his  mugs,  his  salt-cellars,  his  jars,  his  child's 
money-box,  are  all  constructed  from  the  shell  of  the 
nut.  Over  his  couch  when  born,  and  over  his  grave 
when  buried,  a  bunch  of  cocoanut  blossoms  is  hung 
to  charm  away  evil  spirits.     The  marvelous  bounty  of 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLON    175 

the  cocoanut-palm  has  been  gracefully  summarized  by 

the  poet  as — 

"clothing,  meat,  trencher,  drink  and  can, 
Boat,   cable,   sail,   mast,   needle,   all    in   one." 

As  an  object  of  commerce,  cocoanut  oil,  of  which 
upwards  of  five  million  gallons  are  annually  exported, 
holds  the  first  place.  Next  in  importance  is  the  fiber 
of  the  husk  known  as  coir.  This  is  exported  to  the 
extent  of  about  ten  thousand  tons  annually.  The  ex- 
port of  coprah  (the  dried  kernel  of  the  nuts)  amounts 
annually  to  about  375,000  hundred  weight,  while  that 
of  the  dessicated  nut  for  confectionery  amounts  to 
upwards  of  sixteen  million  pounds.  From  this  recital 
of  figures  it  will  be  rightly  surmised  that  a  very  small 
proportion  of  the  annual  yield  of  nuts  leave  the  coun- 
try in  their  natural  state,  nearly  all  the  export  trade 
being  in  manufactured  products.  One  thousand  mil- 
lions is  a  reasonable  estimate  of  the  year's  supply  of 
cocoanuts  in  Ceylon,  about  two-fifths  of  which  are  ex- 
ported in  oil,  coprah,  confectionery,  and  husked  fruit, 
the  remainder  being  consumed  by  the  population  chiefly 
as  food  and  drink. 

The  tourist  often  makes  his  first  acquaintance  with 
the  unhusked  cocoanut  at  the  railway  stations  of  Cey- 
lon, where  little  brown  urchins  with  hatchet  in  one 
hand  and  in  the  other  several  nuts  su.spended  by  stalks, 
perambulate  the  platform  shouting,  Kitrumba,  Kur- 
umba!  The  thirsty  traveler  is  thus  invited  to  drink 
the  water  of  the  fresh  cocoanut,  which  is  at  once 
wholesome,    cool,    and    refreshing.      Many    Iuiropeans 


176  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

add  an  ounce  of  whisky  to  the  pint  of  water  which  the 
kurumba  contains  and  declare  that  thus  adulterated  it 
is  a  drink  for  the  gods.  It  is  also  regarded  by  many 
as  an  excellent  preventive  of  gout.  The  convenience 
of  the  beverage  when  traveling  in  this  thirsty  country 
is  great;  for  one  has  but  to  shout  Kurumba!  when  for 
a  few  cents  some  obliging  native  is  willing  to  ascend 
a  tree  and  bring  down  the  grateful  nut. 

Tea  districts  are  numerous  all  through  Ceylon,  though 
some  attention  must  be  paid  to  climate  in  locating  them. 
The  finest  estates  are  found  along  the  Agra  River  near 
Agrapatana.  In  this  old  town  of  Agrapatana  one  finds 
many  curious  things,  the  most  interesting  being  the 
bazaars.  In  these  bazaars  laborers,  men,  women,  and 
children  of  a  hundred  tea  estates  are  supplied  with 
their  luxuries,  which  consist  chiefly  of  trinkets,  sweets, 
curry  stuffs,  and  cloths  of  many  colors  which,  without 
any  tailoring,  serve  them  as  wearing  apparel.  Here, 
too,  the  native  rice  contractors  have  their  stores,  which 
are  of  no  small  importance  in  a  country  where  the  soil 
is  cultivated  only  for  the  production  of  luxury  for 
exportation,  and  the  food  of  the  laborer  is  an  imported 
article.  We  notice  also  in  this  busy  native  town  long 
rows  of  sheds  and  stations  for  the  hundreds  of  Slumped 
bulls  that  do  the  work  of  transport.  Loads  of  tea,  and, 
in  the  tobacco  districts,  tobacco  are  always  to  be  seen  in 
course  of  transit  to  the  railway  station,  drawn  by  these 
fine  beasts. 

The  process  of  tea-planting,  curing,  and  exporting 
is  a  very  arduous  and  complicated  one  that  we  can  not 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLON    177 

take  up  in  detail  here,  interesting  as  it  would  be  to  do 
so.  Notwithstanding  the  hard  labor  connected  with  it. 
the  planter  finds  time  to  play  just  as  hard  as  he  works, 
if  not  a  little  harder.  In  the  Agra  district,  and  in  many 
other  districts,  life  is  by  no  means  all  work,  nor  does 
it  mean,  as  it  used  to  do  in  the  early  coffee  days, 
banishment  from  the  amenities  of  social  life.  Each 
district  has  its  sporting,  social,  and  athletic  clubs,  and 
cricket,  football,  and  hockey  grounds,  while  some  have 
also  their  race-courses. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  agricultural  industries 
is  the  paddy  cultivation,  or  rice  growing.  This  is  to 
be  seen  at  its  best  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kandy.  The 
natural  beauty  of  the  Kandyan  country  is  greatly  en- 
hanced by  the  artifice  of  the  paddy  cultivator.  No 
visitor  can  fail  to  observe  how  exquisite  is  the  appear- 
ance of  the  hillsides  that  are  terraced  into  shallow 
ledges  upon  which  tiny  lakelets  are  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  growing  rice,  or  paddy  as  it  is  locally 
called,  the  latter  term  being  applied  to  rice  in  the 
husk.  The  ingenuity  displayed  by  the  natives  in  the 
irrigation  of  steep  mountain  slopes  is  the  most  remark- 
able feature  of  Sinhalese  agriculture.  The  cultivation 
of  the  paddy  demands  land  that  will  retain  water  upon 
its  surface,  not  only  during  the  period  of  germination, 
but  during  a  great  portion  of  the  time  required  for  the 
maturity  of  the  plant;  indeed,  the  half-ripe  paddy, 
which  clothes  the  slopes  of  the  hills  with  a  mantle  of 
the  most  radiant  green,  stands  deep  in  water.     Only 


178  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

as  the  time  for  harvest  approaches  are  the  dams  broken 
and  the  water  allowed  to  escape. 

A  great  deal  of  religious  superstition  goes  into  the 
culture  of  the  paddy  terraces.  The  young  plants  are 
said  to  be  saved  from  the  ravages  of  insects  by  charms 
and  the  recital  of  various  incantations.  The  charms 
include  the  scattering  of  sand  or  ashes  around  the  bor- 
ders, accompanied  by  fasting  and  strict  seclusion  from 
society  on  the  part  of  the  performer  of  the  rites.  In- 
stances of  the  benign  influence  of  the  Lord  Buddha  in 
freeing  the  corn  from  pests  are  solemnly  recited  and 
the  same  influence  invoked.  Other  gods  and  goddesses 
are  appealed  to  for  securing  the  departure  of  various 
grubs  and  flies,  and  in  every  case  a  strange  ceremony 
is  performed.  Many  of  the  invocations  are  couched 
in  beautiful  language,  but  the  execution  of  the  charms 
involves  proceedings  that  to  us  appear  somewhat 
strange ;  as  when  "after  dark  a  man  steals  three  ekel 
brooms  from  three  different  houses.  These  he  ties 
together  with  creeper  and  hangs  them  to  his  waist- 
string  behind.  Proceeding  to  the  field  he  walks  three 
times  round  it,  buries  the  bundle  in  the  main  opening 
through  the  dam  and  returns  home  unobserved.  The 
whole  time,  and,  if  possible,  the  next  morning,  he  re- 
mains mute."  Again,  "the  Yakdcssd  should  spend  the 
previous  night  in  a  lonely  spot,  after  having  put  on 
clean  clothes  and  eaten  'milk-rice.'  The  following  morn- 
ing, without  communicating  with  any  one,  he  should 
go  to  the  field.  Having  caught  a  fly,  he  must  hold  it 
for  awhile  in  rosin  smoke,  over  which  he  has  muttered 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLON    179 

the  following  charm  one  hundred  and  eight  times,  and 
afterwards  releases  it  in  the  field:  '  O'nnamo!  by  the 
power  of  the  Lord  Buddha  who  came  to  dispel  the 
pestilence  of  the  great  city  Wisala,  this  very  day  all 
ye  flower-flies,  black  flies,  probiscus  armed  flies,  and 
earth  grubs  of  this  field,  away,  away ;  stay  not.'  " 

It  would  almost  seem  that  charms  are  introduced 
chiefly  to  meet  emergencies  in  which  practical  methods' 
are  of  no  avail ;  but  when  the  Kandyan  has  to  deal 
with  the  depredations  of  birds  and  the  larger  animals 
we  find  that  he  is  not  above  supplementing  supernat- 
ural agency  by  human  means.  A  crop-watcher's  hut 
is  built  of  bamboo  and  roofed  with  painted  cocoanut 
fronds ;  and  from  this,  lines  of  cord,  made  from  cocoa- 
nut  fiber,  extend  in  all  directions,  communicating  with 
ingeniously  constructed  rattles  of  an  alarmingly  dis- 
cordant nature.  Thus  the  inhabitants  of  the  hut  are 
enabled  effectively  to  scare  both  animals  and  birds 
that  would  otherwise  rob  them  of  the  fruits  of  their 
labor.  Just  before  the  harvest  the  workers  live  in  these 
huts  night  and  day,  and  are  armed  with  a  bow  and 
stones.  The  bow  is  the  ordinary  kind  used  to  fly  ar- 
rows, but  with  a  second  string  that  enables  them  to 
hurl  stones. 

Finally  the  harvest  comes,  and  as  they  all  worked 
together  through  the  seeding  and  the  cultivating,  so  do 
they  join  in  the  harvest,  all  falling  together  on  one 
man's  terrace  or  field,  and  so  on  to  the  next  man's 
until  the  whole  harvest  is  gathered.  And  the  custom 
is,  during  the  reaping  of  one  man's  grain  he  finds  the 


180  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

meals  for  all.  The  women's  work  in  the  harvest  is  to 
follow  after  the  reapers  and  gather  the  sheaves  to- 
gether into  one  place.  It  is  not  wealth  that  induces  the 
Kandvan  to  grow  rice,  for  there  are  other  crops  that 
would  be  of  more  value  and  he  could  import  what  rice 
he  uses.  The  whole  motive  in  paddy  culture  among 
the  Kandyans  is  that  they  may  preserve  ancient  cus- 
toms. It  can  be  seen  in  the  harvest  operations  how 
true  this  is. 

The  priests,  astrologers,  doctors,  and  devil-dancers 
are  now  agreed  as  to  the  auspicious  moment  for  put- 
ting in  the  sickle ;  the  band  of  tom-tom  players  as- 
sembles ;  spectators  also  arrive  upon  the  scene ;  every 
one  wears  a  look  of  gladness.  The  introductory  sym- 
phony is  played  by  the  drums  of  strange  make  and 
tuned  to  intervals  unfamiliar  to  Western  ears,  and 
song  bursts  forth  from  the  reapers  as  they  spring  for- 
ward from  the  shallow  embankments  with  their  keen 
sickles  to  fell  the  standing  grain.  The  spectators  are 
in  the  foreground,  the  tom-tom  players  are  on  the 
bund,  or  dam,  stimulating  the  reapers  with  weird  mu- 
sic. The  vivacity  of  the  scene  is  striking;  it  is  the 
natural  introduction  of  native  sentiment  into  agricul- 
ture, and  in  strange  contrast  with  heaviness  of  such 
labor  in  the  Western  world,  where  the  operations  of 
the  laborers  are  often  as  heavy  as  their  boots. 

The  work  .of  carrying  the  sheaves  to  the  thresh- 
ing-floor is  allotted  to  the  women,  who  may  be  seen 
in  picturesque  procession  walking  along  the  dam  with 
the  sheaves  on  their  heads.     The  threshing-floor  is  in 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CEYLOX    181 

the  open  field  upon  high  ground  in  the  most  convenient 
place  that  can  be  found  near  the  irrigated  land.  It  is 
usually  circular  in  shape  and  from  twenty-five  to  forty 
feet  in  diameter.  The  ceremony  that  here  takes  place 
is  exceedingly  picturesque.  In  the  middle  several  con- 
centric circles  are  traced  with  ashes,  the  outer  one 
being  bordered  by  various  ornamental  signs.  The  cir- 
cles are  bisected  by  straight  lines ;  and  in  the  divisions 
or  segments  thus  formed  various  representations  are 
drawn,  such  as  agricultural  implements,  brooms,  Bud- 
dha's foot,  a  scraper,  a  flail  and  a  measure.  And  in 
the  circle  is  placed  a  stone  and  a  conch  shell,  the  lat- 
ter filled  with  various  ingredients,  which  remind  one  of 
the  contents  of  the  pot  of  the  witches  in  Macbeth. 
The  preliminaries  being  now  completed  and  the  lucky 
moment  ascertained,  that  husbandman  whom  the  gods 
have  most  consistently  favored  with  good  fortune  is 
chosen  to  cast  down  the  first  sheaf.  With  this  upon 
his  head  he  walks  with  grave  and  solemn  step  thrice 
around  the  traced  figure,  bowing  towards  the  conch 
shell  as  he  reaches  each  point  from  which  the  bisecting 
lines  are  drawn ;  then,  being  careful  to  face  the  direc- 
tion fixed  by  the  astrologer,  he  casts  down  the  sheaf 
upon  the  conch  shell  and.  prostrating  himself,  with 
joined  hands  he  profoundly  salutes  it  three  times,  rising 
to  his  knees  after  each  salutation.  He  then  retires  and 
three  women  approach  the  conch  shell,  and  after  walk- 
ing around  it  three  times  in  solemn  and  silent  proces- 
sion they  cast  down  their  sheaves  upon  that  already 
placed  there  and  retire.     The  rest  of  the  grain  is  de- 


182  ORIENTAL  LIFE— CEYLON 

posited  on  the  floor  without  further  ceremony.  The 
fee  to  the  three  women  for  casting  their  sheaves  is  as 
much  grain  as  lies  on  the  flat  stone  which  was  depos- 
ited near  the  conch  shell. 

At  eventide,  the  auspicious  moment  being  first  as- 
certained, teams  of  buffaloes,  as  innocent  of  the  muzzle 
as  if  they  were  subject  to  the  Mosaic  law,  are  brought 
to  the  floor  to  tread  out  the  grain.  All  the  tinpe  this  is 
being  done,  homage  is  paid  to  the  charmed  conch  shell, 
the  men  bowing  reverently  to  it  each  time  they  go 
forward  to  sweep  the  half-trodden  grain  from  the 
edge  to  the  center  of  the  floor. 

At  length'  the  paddy  is  found  to  be  trodden  out, 
and  the  animals  are  allowed  to  return  to  the  swamps, 
in  which  they  delight  to  wallow,  until  the  time  when 
they  shall  be  needed  for  some  work.  The  winnowing 
of  the  grain  is  attended  by  various  ceremonies  that  we 
can  not  stop  to  describe.  But  this  love  of  ceremony  is 
carried  by  the  Kandyans  into  every  duty  of  the  day, 
and  forms  a  part  of  the  official  duties  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  rural  districts.  It  accompanies  every  meal, 
and  there  are  ceremonies  for  their  retiring  to  rest  and 
arising  to  the  work  of  the  day. 

There  are  enough  interesting  things  in  the  life  of 
the  people  of  Ceylon  to  make  a  large  volume,  and  no 
more  delightful  study  could  be  taken  up  than  a  careful 
investigation  of  its  resources,  its  ruined  cities,  its  his- 
tory, its  religions,  and  its  manners  and  customs.  With 
this  description  of  agricultural  ceremonials,  however, 
we  must  take  leave  of  the  enchanted  island  of  Ceylon." 


KOREA 
CHAPTER  XV 

THE    HERMIT    NATION    AND    HER    PEOPLE 

THE  Korean  Peninsula  extends  from  the  central 
part  of  the  Asiatic  continent  in  a  southeasterly 
direction,  separating  the  Japan  and  China  Seas.  It 
has  been  likened  in  shape  to  a  rabbit,  caught  by  the 
ear  and  held  by  Russia  at  Vladivostock,  but  to  Orien- 
tal fancy  it  appears  like  a  dagger  pointing  at  the  heart 
of  Japan.  It  extends  through  nine  degrees  of  latitude 
(34°  to  43  X.)  and  is  estimated  to  be  six  hundred 
miles  in  length,  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  miles  in 
width,  and  contains  approximately  eighty-five  thousand 
square  miles,  making  it  about  the  size  of  Utah.  Fusan. 
the  southern  port,  is  about  in  the  same  latitude  as 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  Los  Angeles,  California.  Seoul 
and  Pyeng,  in  Central  Korea,  correspond  to  Richmond, 
Virginia,  and  San  Francisco,  California,  and  Kyeng- 
heung,  the,  northernmost  city,  is  in  about  the  same  lati- 
tude as  Portland,  Maine. 

The  climate  of  Korea  is  pleasant  and  healthful  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  is  like  that  of  the 
Ohio  Valley.  The  extremes  of  temperature  range  from 
nine  degrees  below  zero  to  ninety-eight  degrees  above. 
During  the   winter  ice    forms  on  the   rivers  and  snow 

183 


184  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

falls  in  limited  quantities.  There  is  a  rainy  season 
accompanied  by  a  heavy  rainfall,  the  air  being  full  of 
mc  isture  and  mold  forms  everywhere — on  walls,  un- 
der carpets,  matting,  on  the  floor,  on  books,  shoes, 
gloves.  The  relation  of  this  rainy  season  to  the  na- 
tional prosperity  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  in  1901 
only  4.1  inches  of  rain  fell,  leading  to  a  drouth,  fol- 
lowed by  a  famine  because  of  the  failure  of  crops.  The 
people  were  driven  in  their  distress  to  use  the  seeds  of 
weeds,  roots  of  grasses,  and  even  the  bark  of  trees 
for  food.  This  unnatural  diet  brought  about  a  pesti- 
lence, and  the  whole  series  of  calamities  resulted  in 
great  loss  of  life. 

There  are  no  great  plains  in  Korea,  the  country 
being  mountainous  and  making  of  the  people  a  race  of 
mountaineers.  The  tip  of  the  main  system  in  the  south 
is  Halla-san,  an  extinct  volcano,  seven  thousand  feet 
high,  on  the  Isle  of  Ouelpart,  in  the  Japan  Sea.  As 
you  go  north  the  mountains  increase  in  height,  culmi- 
nating at  the  Manchurian  frontier  in  Paik-tii-san  (Mt. 
Whitehead),  also  an  extinct  volcano,  nine  thousand 
feet  high,  the  crater  of  which  contains  a  beautiful  lake. 
This  pretty  lake  feeds  the  superstitions  of  the  Koreans. 
They  look  upon  it  as  a  mysterious  body  of  water  and 
believe  that  should  they  violate  its  sanctity  by  looking 
upon  its  face,  some  terrible  calamity  would  overtake 
them.  There  are  four  principal  rivers :  the  Amnok, 
or  Yalu,  which  forms  the  boundary  between  Korea 
and  China  for  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles ;  the 
Tai-dong,  on  which  is  located  Pyeng-Yang,  the  me- 


THE  HERMIT  NATION  AND  HER  PEOPLE     185 

tropolis  of  the  north;  the  Han,  which  almost  bisects 
the  peninsula,  rising  within  thirty  miles  of  the  Japan 
Sea  and  emptying  into  the  Yellow  Sea  at  Chemulpo. 
The  environs  of  the  Imperial  Capital  extend  to  the 
Han,  and  are  only  twenty-six  miles  from  its  mouth  by 
rail.  The  fourth  river  is  the  Xak-dong,  in  the  south, 
which  is  said  to  be  navigable  for  one  hundred  and  forty 
miles  by  vessels  drawing  not  more  than  four  and  one- 
half  feet. 

Until  recent  times,  the  chief  modes  of  travel,  aside 
from  that  which  nature  provides,  were  either  by  na- 
tive junk,  or  overland  in  chairs  or  on  horseback.  It 
was  not  until  1890  that  small  river  steamers  were  in- 
troduced on  the  Han  to  ply  between  Chemulpo  and  the 
capital.  American  enterprise  started  the  first  railroad, 
which  later  was  purchased  and  finished  by  the  Japan- 
ese, connecting  Chemulpo  and  Seoul,  a  distance  of 
twenty-six  miles.  Seoul  is  now  connected  with  Fusan, 
the  southern  port,  by  a  railroad  two  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  miles  long,  and  with  Wiju,  the  frontier 
city  on  the  Yalu,  by  another  road  three  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  long.  A  fourth  road  is  projected  between 
Seoul  and  Wonsan,  the  northeast  port,  which  will  prob- 
ably be  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  long.  All 
these  railroads  arc  owned  by  the  Japanese,  There  are 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  of 
telegraph  lines  in  Korea,  and  the  empire  is  a  member 
of  the  Postal  Union. 

Korea  is  a  fair  rival  of  Japan  in  the  beauty  of  her 
scenery.     The  bleak,  barren  shores  of  the  west  coast, 


186  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

which  confront  the  visitor  on  his  way  to  the  peninsula, 
are  but  a  disguise  to  the  hidden  glories  within.  Mrs. 
Bird  Bishop  says  that  Seoul  is  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
fully situated  cities  in  the  world.  Along  the  Korean 
shoreline  of  the  Japan  Sea  is  the  Yongdong  Ku-up,  or 
the  nine  scenic  regions,  famous  for  centuries  among 
the  natives  for  their  great  natural  beauty.  The  "Dia- 
mond" Mountains,  near  Wosan,  derive  their  name 
from  the  dazzling  beauties  of  their  rocky  peaks,  and 
here  is  located  the  chief  seat  of  the  Korean  Buddhist 
hierarchy.  Along  the  Han  and  the  Tai-dong  Rivers 
may  be  found  combinations  of  river  and  mountain 
scenery  well  worthy  of  a  visit.  Korea  is  a  land  of 
wonderfully  clear  and  lucid  atmosphere,  rugged  moun- 
tains at  times  glow  with  a  blaze  of  wild  flowers,  varied 
with  peaceful  farming  scenes,  sleepy  villages  and  rare 
sunsets. 

Korea  is  rich  in  natural  resources.  The  chief  prod- 
uct of  the  country  is  rice,  which  is  the  main  dependence 
of  the  people  for  their  livelihood  and  the  chief  article 
on  the  national  menu.  Barley,  wheat,  and  buckwheat, 
and  various  vegetables  such  as  onions,  turnips,  lettuce, 
potatoes,  cucumbers,  etc.,  are  also  grown  in  abundance. 
The  chief  native  fruits  are  melons,  persimmons, 
pears,  peaches,  apricots,  crab-apples,  and  cherries, 
in  fact,  all  the  fruits  and  berries  that  are  common 
to  the  United  States.  An  inferior  grade  of  cotton 
is  raised,  but  with  proper  seed  there  are  great  pos- 
sibilities for  its  culture  in  Korea,  and  already  plans 
are    on    foot    for    an    extensive    development    of    the 


THE  HERMIT  NATION  AND  HER  PEOPLE     187 

cotton  industry.  Tobacco  and  silks  are  also  pro- 
duced, and  the  peninsula  is  the  home  of  the  great  medic- 
inal root,  ginseng,  the  marketing  of  which  is  a  govern- 
ment monopoly.  Korea  is  also  rich  in  minerals.  Con- 
cessions for  gold  mining  have  been  obtained  by  capi- 
talists from  the  United  States  and  other  foreign  coun- 
tries, the  American  concession  in  Pyeng-an  Province 
covering  eight  hundred  square  miles,  with  five  mines 
opened  and  with  five  mills  operating,  and  two  hundred 
stamps  at  work.  Fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  cop- 
per has  been  exported  from  native  mines  in  one  year. 
The  seas  also  bring  a  large  amount  of  wealth  to 
Korea,  as  they  teem  with  fish.  Along  the  eighteen 
hundred  miles  of  shore,  and  about  the  ten  thousand 
isles  of  which  the  Korean  Empire  is  lord,  may  be  found 
halibut,  cod,  salmon,  the  Tai  (a  species  of  carp),  her- 
rings, sardines,  sharks,  whales,  and  shrimps.  Oysters 
of  immense  size  and  clams  are  plentiful,  and  are  much 
appreciated  by  the  people.  One  Japanese  fishing  com- 
pany is  said  to  have  caught  fish  to  the.value  of  $500,000 
in  one  year.  The  pearl  oyster  abounds  in  the  south, 
and  valuable  pearls,  pink,  white,  and  black,  are  found. 
The  origin  of  the  Korean  people  is  still  an  un- 
solved problem,  though  the  concensus  of  opinion  is 
that  several  races  united  to  form  the  present  people 
of  the  peninsula.  They  have  the  same  general  features 
as  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  favoring  somewhat  their 
neighbors  of  the  "Sunrise  Kingdom."  They  have  the 
dark,  almond-shaped,  oblique  eyes,  the  high  check 
bones,   and   long,   straight,   coarse,   black  hair  of  the 


188  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

Mongoloid  races.  The  men  average  about  five  feet 
five  inches  in  height,  have  a  very  erect  carriage,  due 
to  their  habit  of  sitting  on  the  floor  instead  of  on  chairs, 
and  move  as  a  rule  with  considerable  grace.  They  are 
great  pedestrians  and  perform  prodigious  journeys' 
over  their  native  mountains.  The  women  average 
about  five  feet  two  inches,  having  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
pression in  their  faces ;  among  the  upper  classes  they 
never  appear  in  public. 

The  costume  of  the  men  is  generally  white  in  color, 
and  is  designed  on  a  plan  to  consume  large  quantities 
of  cloth.  In  the  old  days,  when  clothing  was  made  out 
of  the  narrow  goods  of  native  manufacture,  it  was 
not  unusual  to  use  a  hundred  yards  or  more  of  cotton, 
silk,  and  linen  in  making  a  man's  winter  costume.  A 
gentleman  dressed  in  this  fashion  passing  along  the 
road  on  a  breezy  day  made  an  impressive  sight.  He 
reminded  the  observer  of  a  full-rigged  ship  under  sail. 
The  Koreans  until  recently  wore  their  hair  long,  the 
males  not  cutting  the  hair  at  all.  In  boyhood  it  is  worn 
down  the  back,  in  a  long  luxuriant  braid,  and  after  the 
boy  has  grown  to  manhood,  the  braid  is  wrapped  up 
and  confined  on  the  top  of  the  head  by  a  tortoise-shell 
comb.  This  custom  gave  rise  to  the  industry  of  th^ 
manufacture  of  these  combs,  and  some  of  the  finest 
that  are  bought  to-day  for  the  coiffures  of  the  fash- 
ionable American  or  European  lady  come  from  Korea, 
principally  from  Seoul.  The  investiture  of  the  male 
Korean  with  a  hat  is  a  very  important  part  of  the  mar- 
riage ceremony.    The  prospective  bridegroom  is  placed 


THE  HERMIT  NATION  AND  HER  PEOPLE     189 

in  the  center  of  a  group  of  the  elders  of  his  clan,  his 
long,  black  tresses  gathered  up  over  the  head,  a  silken 
cord  tied  around  the  hair  close  to  the  crown,  and  then 
his  hair  is  twisted  and  coiled  until  it  is  reduced  to  a 
small  knot  on  the  top«of  the  head.  This  is  known  as 
the  top-knot,  and  like  the  scalp  lock  of  the  Indian 
and  ancient  Japanese,  and  the  queue  of  the  Chinese, 
forms  a  very  convenient  handle  by  which  the  natives 
can  seize  each  other  in  times  of  animated  discussion. 
To  hold  the  hair  on  the  top  of  the  head,  a  band  made 
of  horsehair  and  linen  thread  goes  around  the  fore- 
head, binding  it  very  tightly.  On  top  of  this  the  hat 
is  placed,  which  is  of  interesting  construction  and  con- 
sists of  a  large  brim  with  a  top  to  it  like  an  inverted 
flower-pot.  The  hats  of  to-day  are  very  diminutive 
compared  to  the  hats  of  years  gone  by,  when  the  brims 
were  so  large  that  it  is  said  no  more  than  three  Koreans 
could  get  into  any  ordinary  sized  room  at  the  same  time 
with  their  hats  on.  There  are  many  varieties  of  hats, 
probably  the  most  remarkable  being  the  sak-kat  of  the 
north,  which  is  made  of  a  kind  of  reed,  and  which  is 
so  large  that  it  admirably  serves  the  purpose  of  an 
umbrella. 

The  costume  of  the  women  is  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  men,  being  varied  among  the  younger 
women  with  colors,  and  the  most  peculiar  feature  of 
which  is  that  the  waist  line  is  placed  just  under  the 
arm  pits,  giving  them  the  appearance  of  overgrown 
children.  This  style  is  used  to  an  extent  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  is  known  as  the  Empire  gown.   The 


190  (  HUENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

Korean  costume  is  a  very  easy  and  comfortable  one, 
having  no  buttons  to  it  and  being  supported  on  the 
body  by  garters  and  girdles.  In  appearance  the  Ko- 
reans, in  spite  of  the  strange  form  of  their  interesting 
and  remarkable  costume,  are  a  dignified  and  impressive 
people,  and  possessing  as  they  do  many  of  the  graces 
and  accomplishments  which  attend  genuine  hospitality 
and  courtesy,  they  are  a  delightful  people  with  whom 
to  become  acquainted. 

The  population  of  Korea  is  estimated  among  the 
people  themselves  as  twenty  million,  but  this  is  a  great 
exaggeration  and  twelve  million  would  be  a  conserva- 
tive estimate.  Next  to  the  Imperial  clan,  in  the  social 
scale  are  the  Yang-ban,  or  the  nobility,  who  fill  all  the 
offices,  enjoy  special  privileges  and  prerogatives,  and 
are  the  absolute  rulers  of  the  land.  With  them  are  the 
literati,  whose  position  is  an  honorable  and  respected 
one.  Then  come  the  middle  class  of  men,  who  make- 
up the  real  bulk  of  the  population,  and  are  farmers  or 
merchants,  or  occupy  the  clerical  offices  in  the  gov- 
ernment. At  the  bottom  of  the  scale  are  the  coolies  cr 
laboring  classes,  consisting  of  several  grades,  the  low- 
est being  the  butchers,  and  above  them  in  rank  the 
Buddhist  priests,  monks,  and  nuns,  who  in  their  turn 
are  outranked  by  the  serfs  or  household  slaves.  Actors 
are  also  regarded  as  in  social  disgrace,  and  classified 
somewhere  between  the  butchers  and  monks.  Labor  cf 
all  kinds  is  regarded  as  a  badge  of  disgrace,  and  the 
fear  of  it  rests  like  a  nightmare  upon  Korean  gentry 
who  make  any  social  pretensions. 


THE  HERMIT  NATION  AND  HER  PEOPLE     191 

The  occupation  of  the  nobility  is  either  "running" 
the  government,  or  being  run  by  it — at  least  this  was 
their  occupation  before  Japan  took  a  hand.  There  are 
two  political  parties  in  Korea,  the  Ins  and  the  Outs. 
The  Ins  regard  themselves  as  orthodox,  and  consider 
the  Outs  traitors.  The  literati  as  a  class  have  high 
ideals,  and  have  given  to  the  entire  range  of  Korean 
I'.fe  a  literary  trend.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
though  the  Koreans  may  not  be  a  nation  of  scholars, 
they  are  certainly  a  nation  of  students.  They  are  eager 
to  learn,  quick  to  comprehend,  strong  to  retain,  and  it 
is  a  delight  to  be  associated  with  them  in  the  capacity 
of  an  instructor.  They  reverence  their  teachers  as 
they  do  their  parents  and  their  officers.  This  devotion 
to  literary  studies  and  ambition  to  be  educated  is  not 
confined  to  the  literary  classes,  but  among  the  lower 
classes  the  same  intense  desire  for  education  manifests 
itself,  and  out  from  among  them  sometimes  come  men 
of  great  mental  superiority.  In  study  a  Korean  will 
not  spare  himself.  A  favorite  motto  is,  "Tie  your  top- 
knot to  the  ridge  pole."  the  Korean  equivalent  of 
"Burning  the  midnight  oil."  It  is  said  of  one  of  their 
most  famous  prime  ministers  that  when,  at  the  age  of 
eighty,  he  retired  from  active  life,  he  journeyed  to 
the  early  home  which  he  had  not  seen  since  his  boy- 
hood. After  visiting  the  house  in  which  he  was  born, 
he  went  to  the  schoolroom  in  which  he  was  educated, 
and  taking  the  switch  with  which  the  boys  are  disci- 
plined, he  set  it  against  the  wall  and  then  gravely  got 


192  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

down  on  his  knees  and  made  three  obeisances  to   it, 
saying,  "The  rod  that  made  me  a  man." 

The  Korean  boy  begins  school  at  five  years  of  age. 
Schools  are,  as  a  rule,  private  in  character,  there  being 
one  in  nearly  every  village  supported  either  by  local 
funds  or  maintained  by  some  wealthy  resident.  Some- 
times these  local  schools  are  endowed,  the  endowment 
usually  consisting  of  rice  lands  or  a  bull.  Education 
is  through  the  medium  of  the  Chinese  classics,  which 
are  bawled  out  by  the  boys  in  the  first  years  of  their 
school  life  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  At  first  the  boy 
learns  only  the  sounds  and  meaning  of  the  characters, 
and  after  he  has  acquired  about  two  thousand  of  these, 
he  is  taught  to  explain  them  in  their  grammatical  and 
textual  sense.  The  course  of  study  in  these  schools  is 
on  a  religious  foundation.  The  Korean  scriptures — 
that  is,  the  Confucian  Classics — is  the  chief  text-book, 
and  though  a  Korean  may  come  from  these  schools 
knowing  very  little  of  arithmetic,  geography  or  his- 
tory, he  does  know  the  religious  faith  of  his  people, 
and  how  to  conform  to  its  requirements.  One  of  the 
supreme  objects  of  Korean  education  is  to  impress 
upon  the  boy  that  life  without  religion  reduces  him  to 
the  level  of  the  birds  and  beasts.  A  Korean  would 
regard  with  amazement  the  American  debate  on  the 
advisability  of  teaching  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools. 
There  are  no  schools  for  girls  outside  the  mission 
schools,  and  never  have  been. 

The  main  occupation  of  the  people  is  agriculture, 
the  Koreans  being  a  nation  of  farmers,  with  the  s-pirit, 


THE  HERMIT  XATIOX  AND  HER  PEOPLE     193 

the  good  points,  and  the  weaknesses  of  any  farming 
people.  They  have  strong  physiques,  and  readily  en- 
dure long  hours  of  labor  and  exposure  to  the  elements. 
Their  power  to  carry  loads  is  surprising.  They  have 
invented  a  rack,  which  they  hang  on  their  backs  by 
straps  over  the  shoulders,  supporting  it  on  the  hips, 
and  upon  this  rack  a  Korean  has  been  known  to  carry 
a  bale  of  cotton  goods,  weighing  five  hundred  pounds, 
for  a  mile.  They  have  only  the  crudest  farming  ap- 
pliances, and  farms  are  limited  largely  to  small  hold- 
ings. As  there  are  no  native  banks,  the  nobility  and 
the  wealthy  men  of  the  land  usually  invest  their  for- 
tunes in  farm  land,  which  is  worked  on  shares  by  the 
farming  classes.  Renting  for  a  cash  stipend  is  un- 
known. An  estate  is  made  up  of  a  large  number  of 
these  small  holdings,  presided  over  by  a  steward  rep- 
resenting the  grand  seigneur. 

Business  is  greatly  handicapped  by  the  lack  of  confi- 
dence, the  native  rates  of  interest  ranging  from  two 
per  cent  to  ten  per  cent  a  month.  In  Seoul  there  are 
wealthy  and  powerful  guilds  of  various  merchants  who 
have  stalls  where  they  show  their  goods.  Such  a 
thing  as  a  store,  as  understood  in  Western  lands,  is 
unknown  in  the  native  cities.  Small  shops  may  be 
found  in  some  of  the  larger  walled  towns,  and  at  the 
open  ports,  where  native  products, — wooden,  brass, 
and  iron  ware,  articles  of  apparel,  household  utensils, 
mixed  with  foreign  importations  such  as  piece  goods, 
kerosene  oil,  cigarettes,  umbrellas,  and  matches  may  be 
purchased.     Often,  however,  the  entire  stock  in  trade 


194  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

will  not  be  worth  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars. 
In  many  of  the  smaller  towns  the  shops  open  only 
once  each  five  days,  for  shopping  is  done  by  the  peo- 
ple usually  on  market  days.  These  occur  each  fifth 
day,  and  are  held  at  central  points,  to  which  hucksters 
resort  with  such  goods  as  they  can  carry  on  their  backs 
or  on  a  pony.  To  these  market  places  come  the  farm- 
ers with  their  products,  including  chickens,  fruit,  and 
bulls,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see  the  amount  of  business 
thus  done.  As  many  as  twenty  thousand  people  will  be 
in  attendance  during  the  market  days  in  some  of  the 
thickly  populated  regions. 

Native  life  in  Korea  is  on  a  very  simple  and  primi- 
tive basis,  and  far  behind  that  of  their  neighbors  in 
China  and  Japan.  The  manufacturers  of  Korea,  like 
their  natural  resources,  await  development.  The  com- 
mercial outlook  is  certainly  very  good,  for  here  we 
have  a  nation  of  twelve  million  people  strong  in  phy- 
sique, sturdy  in  many  of  their  characteristics,  yet  docile 
under  sympathetic  control,  diligent  by  nature,  quick  to 
learn,  and  needing  only  instruction,  the  removal  of  an 
oppressive  government,  and  the  rise  of  a  generation 
free  from  the  hurtful  views  which  prevail  concerning 
the  dignity  of  labor,  to  become  one  of  the  most  pros- 
perous and  progressive  peoples  in  the  Far  East.0 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  VANISHING  EMPIRE 

THE  passing  of  one  of  the  world's  ancient  empires 
can  not  but  challenge  our  interests  and  sympathy. 
However  much  Korea  may  have  merited  her  tragic 
fate,  the  way  in  which  she  has  struggled  against  it  is 
pathetic.  Owing  to  her  situation  it  was  long  Korea's 
part  to  act  as  a  buffer  state  between  China  and  Japan, 
and  later  between  Russia  and  Japan.  As  a  result  of 
the  conflict  between  the  two  last-mentioned  powers 
she  now  lies  a  helpless  prize  of  war.  Unable  effectively 
to  defend  herself  and  unable  to  secure  a  guaranteed 
neutrality  from  the  powers,  she  has  ceased  to  exist  as 
one  of  the  worlds  independent  nations.  The  foreign 
ministers  have  been  withdrawn  from  Seoul,  and  all 
foreign  matters  are  now  handled  from  Tokyo.  Diplo- 
matically, Korea  is  dead. 

It  is  inaccurate,  strictly  speaking,  to  think  of  Korea 
as  having  been  a  sovereign,  independent  nation.  His- 
torically she  was,  until  recent  times,  one  of  the  depend- 
encies of  the  great  Chinese  Empire.  In  blood,  in  lan- 
guage, in  religion,  in  social  customs  and  political  insti- 
tutions she  shows  her  remote  origin  from  the  Celestial 
Empire,  and  only  in  local  variations  and  minor  pecu- 
liarities do  we  find  anything  distinctive. 

How  different  in  results  have  been  the  seeds  of  civi- 
lization which  she,  in  turn,  passed  on  to  Japan !   While 

195 


196  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

Korea,  if  she  has  not  positively  decayed  and  declined, 
has  for  centuries  remained  stagnant,  seeking  to  exclude 
herself  as  completely  as  possible  from  all  contact  with 
the  rest  of  the  world  and  thus  earning  the  title  of  the 
"Hermit  Nation,"  the  wonderful  little  Island  Empire 
has  developed  one  of  the  most  interesting  civilizations 
in  the  world. 

Lying  thus  between  the  mother  empire  on  the  west 
and  the  daughter  empire  on  the  east,  Korea's  nominal 
dependence  upon  China,  and  the  attempt  on  the  part 
of  that  country  to  make  her  suzerainty  effective,  led 
to  the  short  and  decisive  struggle  between  China  and 
Tapan  in  1894.  China  was  ignominiously  beaten  and 
lapan  emerged  for  the  first  time  as  one  of  the  world's 
fighting  powers.  As  a  result  of  this  war  China  gave 
up  all  her  claims  and  the  treaty  of  Shimonoseki,  in 
1895,  declared  the  "full  and  complete  independence 
and  autonomy  of  Korea."' 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  Korea  became  really  inde- 
pendent, though  the  inevitable  result  of  the  war  was 
to  increase  tremendously  the  influence  of  Japan.  It 
was  as  a  protest  against  this  growing  power  of  the 
Tapanese  that  a  movement  was  soon  started  against 
them,  inspired,  it  seems,  by  the  Korean  Empress,  whose 
watchword  seems  to  have  been  ''Korea  for  the  Ko- 
reans." This  movement  collapsed  with  the  murder 
of  the  Empress  in  1895,  a  murder  that  is  very  gen- 
erally attributed  to  the  Japanese. 

In  the  meantime  the  growl  of  the  Russian  bear  was 
becoming   audible    and   threatening.      Already   Russia 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  197 

had  made  her  wonderful  march  to  the  sea  and  was 
fast  overrunning  Manchuria.  She  cast  her  eye  over 
Korea.  Its  resources,  its  harbors,  and  the  general 
usefulness  of  the  peninsula  in  rounding  out  her  do- 
mains made  possession  seem  quite  inevitable  to  the 
Russians.  Furthermore,  the  acquisition  looked  as  if 
it  would  be  an  easy  matter,  for  the  people  were  docile, 
the  court  weak  and  corrupt.  The  same  tactics  that  had 
been  so  successfully  used  at  Peking  were  therefore 
brought  into  play  at  Seoul.  The  Russian  agents,  boun- 
tifully  supplied  with  gold,  plied  all  the  arts  of  friend- 
ship, cajolery,  and  corruption,  and  if  these  at  times 
seemed  insufficient,  they  did  not  hesitate  to  threaten 
to  use  the  big  stick. 

These  successful  advances  of  Russia  at  the  Korean 
court  filled  Japan  with  alarm  and  hostility.  Russia, 
believed  to  be  one  of  the  world's  strongest  powers, 
one  that  had  just  succeeded  in  wresting  an  important 
province  from  China,  was  now  threatening  to  undo 
all  that  Japan  had  accomplished  in  the  war  of  1894, 
and  even  to  oust  her  completely  from  the  peninsula. 
And  if  she  should  succeed  in  doing  this,  why  might 
she  not  reach  across  the  narrow  stretch  of  water  and 
lay  her  heavy  hand  upon  the  Island  Empire  itself? 
At  the  same  time  the  population  of  Japan  threatened 
to  increase  beyond  her  ability  to  take  care  of  it.  If 
Korea  should  be  lost,  where  could  Japan  send  her 
surplus  people?  One  of  the  Japanese  statesmen  ex- 
pressed the  situation  at  the  time  as  follows :  "Korea 
is  an  important  outpost  in  Japan's  line  of  defense,  and 


198  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

Japan,  consequently,  considers  Korea's  independence 
absolutely  essential  to  her  own  repose  and  safety." 

This  being  the  situation,  a  tug  of  war  at  Seoul 
was  inevitable.  It  was  a  thrilling  struggle  with  an 
empire  at  stake,  and  involved  bluffing,  hoodwinking, 
bribery,  chicanery,  and  finally  an  appeal  to  the  sword. 
The  steady,  bold  aggression  of  Russia  was  met  by 
the  dogged,  determined  opposition  of  Japan.  In  this 
state  of  things,  America  was  the  favored  nation  at  the 
Korean  court.  Her  citizens  had  large  investments, 
her  missionaries  were  numerous  and  non-meddlesome, 
her  motives  were  not  suspected,  her  minister  (Dr. 
Allen)  was  highly  respected  and  trusted,  and  her 
treaty  contained  a  clause  by  which  she  agreed  "to  pro- 
tect Korea's  independence  and  safeguard  her  rights." 
How  little  do  treaties  mean ! 

This  being  the  situation,  the  Korean  Emperor  was 
between  two  fires,  and  his  policy  was  to  blow  first  hot 
and  then  cold.  Lying,  intrigue,  and  vacillation  charac- 
terized the  Korean  diplomacy.  Finally,  when  the  bear 
squeezed  too  hard,  Korea  flew  into  the  arms  of  Japan 
— from  the  frying  pan  into  the  fire ! 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  which  led  up  to  the 
Russian- Japanese  struggle  for  Korea.  When  Japan 
finally  declared  war  early  in  1904,  it  was  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  "preserving  the  independence  of 
the  Hermit  Nation."  Before  the  hostilities  began,  the 
Emperor  of  Korea  declared  that  his  country  would 
remain  neutral.  Coolly  disregarding  this  declaration  of 
purpose,  the  Japanese  soon  occupied   Seoul  and  im- 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  199 

pressed  a  treaty  of  alliance  upon  Korea,  by  which 
Japan  insured  the  "safety  and  repose"  of  the  Korean 
imperial  house,  and  guaranteed  the  independence  and 
territorial  integrity  of  the  Korean  Empire.  Later  in 
the  same  year  (August,  1904),  another  treaty  was  en- 
tered into  by  which  Korea  agreed  to  employ  a  Japan- 
ese and  to  decide  by  his  advice  all  financial,  foreign, 
or  diplomatic  matters. 

This  was  a  bold  step  at  undermining  the  autonomy 
of  Korea  early  in  the  war  and  while  the  outcome  was 
problematical.  The  next  step  was  taken  in  the  treaty 
between  Russia  and  Japan  at  the  close  of  the  war 
(August  23,  1905),  the  second  article  of  which  was  in 
part  as  follows:  "The  imperial  Russian  government, 
acknowledging  that  Japan  possesses  in  Korea  para- 
mount political,  military,  and  economic  interests,  en- 
gages neither  to  obstruct  nor  interfere  with  measures 
for  the  guidance,  protection,  and  control  which  the  im- 
perial government  of  Japan  may  find  necessary  to  take 
in  Korea." 

This  treaty  was  followed  by  the  so-called  suzer- 
ainty protocol  between  Japan  and  Korea,  of  November 
17,  1905,  whose  declaration  of  purpose  was  as  follows: 
"The  governments  of  Japan  and  Korea,  desiring  to 
strengthen  the  principle  of  solidarity  which  unites  the 
two  empires,  have,  with  that  object  in  view,  agreed 
upon  and  concluded  the  following  stipulations  to  serve 
until  the  moment  arrives  when  it  is  recognized  that 
Korea  has  attained  national  strength."  It  then  goes 
on  to  provide  that  Japan  is  to  have  control  and  direc- 


200  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

tion  of  the  external  relations  and  affairs  of  Korea ; 
that  Korea  should  not  make  an  international  act  except 
through  Japan  ;  that  the  advice  of  the  Japanese  resi- 
dent-general is  to  be  asked  and  followed  upon  all  im- 
portant matters.  In  return  for  all  these  considerations 
on  Korea's  part,  Japan  undertook  "to  maintain  the  wel- 
fare and  dignity  of  the  Imperial  House  of  Korea." 

This  was  a  most  extraordinary  document.  It 
amounted  practically  to  a  death-warrant  of  the  nation, 
and  was  wrung  from  the  Emperor  and  his  cabinet 
only  after  a  sweat-box  pressure  that  drove  more  than 
one  of  the  ministers  to  commit  suicide.  The  Emperor, 
on  January  29,  1906,  issued  a  statement  asserting  that 
his  signature  to  the  protocol  had  been  forged,  and  im- 
ploring the  powers  to  establish  a  joint  protectorate  to 
preserve  the  independence  of  his  country.  It  was  like 
a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness — no  notice  was  given 
it  in  the  chancelleries  of  the  powers.  It  is  worth  while 
to  know  that  this  statement  of  the  Emperor's  was 
given  to  a  British  newspaper  man  who  would  not  trust 
to  the  local  cable  (operated  by  the  Japanese),  but  car- 
ried it  across  to  the  China  coast  and  thence  made  it, 
known  to  the  world. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  there  were  three  possible 
courses  open  to  Japan  in  dealing  with  Korea.  One 
was  to  place  her  in  practically  the  same  position  she 
was  before  the  war — an  independent  power— subject  to 
pressure,  and  even  control,  from  Peking,  St.  Peters- 
burg, or  Tokyo.  This  course  was  clearly  out  of  the 
question. 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  201 

Another  would  have  been  to  maintain  her  before 
the  world  as  practically  an  autonomous  nation,  subject 
to  her  own  emperor,  who,  however,  should  be  guided 
by  the  advice  of  the  Japanese  resident-general.  Such 
is  the  method  many  European  nations  use  in  dealing 
with  their  dependencies.  And  this  was  the  method 
which  was  actually  tried  and  which  failed.  It  is  an 
essential  part  of  such  a  scheme  that  the  emperor  be 
contented  with  the  appearance  of  power  and  of  au- 
thority while  the  substance  is  completely  in  the  hands 
of  those  behind  the  throne ;  in  other  words,  that  he 
rule  and  they  govern.  This  situation  the  Korean 
Emperor  never  fully  accepted.  He  would  agree,  under 
pressure,  to  anything  that  was  proposed  and  then  im- 
mediately scheme,  plot,,  and  intrigue  to  undo  it.  One 
of  the  most  important  provisions  in  the  treaty  of  No- 
vember, 1905,  was  that  whereby  Korea  agreed  to  sur- 
render all  her  dealings  with  foreign  powers  to  Japan, 
and  not  to  undertake  any  international  act  except 
through  Japan.  The  sending  of  a  delegation  to  The 
Hague  in  1907  was  in  direct  contravention  to  the 
treaty. 

The  third  possibility  in  the  relation  of  the  two 
countries  would  be  for  Korea  to  lose  completely  her 
identity  as  an  independent  power  in  annexation  and 
absorption  by  Japan.  And  can  any  one  who  has  fol- 
lowed carefully  the  trend  of  events  for  the  past  five 
years  doubt  for  a  moment  that  this  is  the  course  that 
was  entered  upon  when,  after  sending  the  delegation 
to  The  Hague,  the  old  emperor  was  forced  to  abdicate  ? 


202  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

The  fate  of  the  old  ruler  can  not  excite  compas- 
sion in  any  one.  He  did  nothing  to  justify  his  rule. 
The  impression  he  gave  one  who  saw  him  was  that  of 
weakness  and  sensuality.  His  policy  was  purely  self- 
ish and  unenlightened.  He  took  upon  himself  none  of 
the  burdens  of  a  responsible  ruler.  His  kitchen  coun- 
selors were  often  men  who  had  forced  themselves  into 
power  by  their  brutal  and  corrupt  practices  while  in 
minor  positions.  The  court  was  filled  with  sorcerers, 
soothsayers,  conjurors,  diviners,  and  other  intriguers, 
who  constantly  played  upon  the  emperor's  fears  and 
superstition,  causing  him  to  abandon  a  plan  no  sooner 
than  he  had  formed  it,  and  to  withdraw  a  policy  no 
sooner  that  he  had  announced  it. 

Under  this  wretched  rule,  or  misrule,  the  taxes 
were  farmed  out  and  the  peasants  plucked  of  every- 
thing but  the  barest  necessities.  In  one  of  the  recent 
budgets  $1,751,634  was  set  aside  for  the  emperor's 
personal  and  household  expenses  and  $28,642  for  pub- 
lic improvements!  Little  wonder  if,  under  such  con- 
ditions, the  people  are  stolid  and  indifferent ;  if  the 
wretched  barrenness  and  poverty  of  the  country  are  so 
oppressive  to  the  traveler.  There  is  something  thor- 
oughly depressing  about  a  Korean  village  with  its  lit- 
tle one-room  mud  huts,  thatched  with  straw,  and  gen- 
erally without  window  or  chimney,  no  trees,  grass,  or 
flowers,  the  only  animal  visible  a  half-starved  cur,  and 
not  a  spire  or  steeple  or  aspiring  structure  of  any  kind 
in  the  whole  enclosure.  Yet  the  Oriental  philosophy 
which  accepts  the  situation,  whatever  it  may  be,  and 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  203 

makes  the  best  of  it,  can  be  seen  in  the  signs  over  the 
shop-doors  in  Seoul,  one  of  which  translated,  informs 
us  that  "The  People  Enjoy  Peace  and  Pleasure." 

While,  therefore,  one  can  have  little  sympathy  with 
the  deposed  "Son  of  Heaven"  in  his  exile  and  seclusion, 
one  can  sympathize  greatly  with  the  down-trodden 
people.  Their  relations  with  the  Japanese  have  been 
far  from  pleasant,  and  their  path  is  likely  to  be  a 
thorny  one,  for  the  Jap  is  a  stern  master,  and  not  easy- 
going and  indulgent  as  we  have  been  in  the  Philip- 
pines. It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that  this 
harshness  is  due  entirely  to  "cockiness"  which  they  are 
supposed  to  have  acquired  as  a  result  of  the  war.  Even 
before  the  war  the  same  thing  was  true,  though  of 
course  on  a  much  smaller  scale.  It  is  due  to  the  feel- 
ing of  superiority  which  the  one  race  has  toward  the 
other.  The  Koreans  are  dull  and  stolid,  the  Japanese 
quick  and  clever;  the  Koreans  are  densely  ignorant. 
the  Japanese  well-informed;  the  Koreans  are  without 
hope  or  ambition,  the  Japanese  are  full  of  both;  the 
Koreans  are  submissive  and  unwarlike,  the  Japanese 
full  of  pluck  and  spirit. 

This  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  toward  the 
Koreans  has,  of  course,  been  greatly  accentuated  by 
the  circumstances  and  the  results  of  the  war.  Follow- 
ing the  advent  of  the  Japanese  army  into  Korea  came 
a  swarm  of  camp  followers.  These  adventurers,  their 
numbers  constantly  augmented  by  new  recruits,  treated 
the  Koreans  with  great  harshness.  The  latter  were 
often  impressed  into  service  whether  they  wanted  to 


204  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

work  or  not,  and  sometimes  dismissed  with  a  kick  for 
pay.  They  were  not  infrequently  robbed  of  their 
goods,  driven  off  their  lands,  beaten  and  insulted.  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  even  the  long-suffering  Koreans 
chafed  under  this  treatment,  resented  it  bitterly,  and 
that  the  foreigners  resident  in  Korea  sympathized  with 
them  almost  to  a  man? 

With  this  background  in  mind  we  can  readily  un- 
derstand why  there  were  mobs  and  rioting  in  Seoul 
when  it  became  known  that  the  Emperor  had  abdi- 
cated. The  populace  understood  well  enough  that, 
due  to  pressure  from  one  source  or  another,  he  had 
been  forced  out ;  they  saw  their  old  empire  and  nation- 
ality slipping  away  from  them.  If  the  Koreans  had 
been  spirited  people,  if  they  had  had  any  fighting  quali- 
ties, these  would  have  asserted  themselves  at  such  a 
crisis.  That  they  did  not  do  so  in  any  serious  way 
shows  that  the  people  are  without  aggressiveness  or 
military  resources,  and  that  they  realize  fully  the  fu- 
tility of  attempting  to  oppose  their  conquerors.  Up  to 
this  date,  the  Japanese  have  not  considered  that  the 
moment  has  arrived  in  which  "Korea  has  attained 
national  strength,''  though  the  Koreans  are  clamoring 
loudly  to-day  for  their  independence.  It  can  not  yet 
be  said  what  the  outcome  will  be. 

It  is  not  to  be  concluded  from  what  has  been  said 
that  the  Korean  people  will  be  any  worse  off  under 
the  Japanese  than  they  have  been  under  their  own 
rulers.  On  the  contrary,  they  could  not  be  worse  off, 
and  the  probabilities  are  that  their  condition  will  be 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  205 

much  improved.  The  Japanese  are  a  wonderful  peo- 
ple. They  know  how  to  develop  and  use  the  resources 
of  a  country  to  the  utmost.  It  is  to  their  interest  to  do 
so  in  Korea.  In  this  development  the  Koreans  will 
share,  hut  the  mass  of  the  people  will  he.  as  they  always 
have  been,  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water. 
And  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  Japanese,  also,  that  the 
Koreans  should  be  made  contented,  industrious,  and 
prosperous.  Korea  has  great  resources,  and  their  de- 
velopment has  hardly  yet  begun,  but  there  is  great 
prospect  for  the  trade  of  the  future. 

In  this  future  development  of  trade  and  general 
prosperity,  the  United  States  will  have,  relatively,  a 
much  smaller  share  than  we  had  in  old  Korea.  In 
old  Korea  we  had  important  mining,  street  railway 
and  electric  light  interests,  and  our  exportation  of  ma- 
chinery, flour,  oil,  and  cottons  was  growing  apace.  The 
Japanese  have  been  supplying  the  most  of  these  during 
the  past  live  years,  just  as  they  have  been  supplying 
the  wants  of  Manchuria. 

In  whatever  way  the  present  agitation  of  matters 
Korean  and  Japanese  may  be  settled,  it  can  hut  he 
hoped  by  those  whose  sympathies  are  ever  with  the 
weaker  and  the  oppressed  that  "peace  and  pleasure" 
will  be  secured  to  the  Koreans,  and  that  they  shall  at 
last  have,  for  the  first  time,  something  like  a  "square 
deal."  So  marvelous  is  the  political  sagacity  of  Japan 
and  so  successful  has  been  her  political  policy  in  the 
past  that  it  is  believed  only  good  can  result  for 
Korea  and  the  enhancement  of  the  international  repu- 


206  ORIENTAL  LIFE— KOREA 

tation  of  Japan  in  the  union  of  the  destinies  of  these 
two  nations  so  much  alike. 

We  should  not  close  this  chapter  on  the  Passing 
of  the  Korean  Empire  without  some  reference  to  the 
religious  life  of  the  people  that  has  furnished  such  a 
vast  field  for  American  mission  work.  No  other  coun- 
try has  been  so  successful  in  carrying  Christianity  to 
a  benighted  race  as  has  America  in  her  winning  of 
the  Koreans  to  the  precepts  of  the  Nazarene.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  go  into  details  regarding  this  vast  accom- 
plishment, but  some  of  the  features  of  their  native 
religion  may  prove  interesting  as  well  as  valuable  in 
showing  why  Christianity  has  appealed  so  readily  to 
the  Koreans. 

The  most  universal  belief  among  the  Koreans  is 
that  of  spirit  worship,  or  Animism.  The  cky,  thunder, 
trees,  mountains,  and  the  tiger  are  regarded  as  gods, 
and  worshiped  and  feared  by  the  heathen  man  because 
of  their  supposed  relation  to  his  own  welfare.  From 
the  sky  comes  rain,  upon  which  depends  the  success 
of  his  crops ;  thunder  is  the  voice  of  divine  anger 
against  him ;  the  trees  afford  him  shelter,  and  the  tiger 
is  stronger  than  he.  The  name  of  these  spirits  is  le- 
gion, and  it  has  been  well  said  that  "there  are  more 
gods  in  Korea  than  people."  To  the  Korean  mind 
these  spirits  exist  everywhere,  in  earth,  in  sky,  in  sea. 
They  haunt  the  trees,  they  play  in  the  ravines,  they 
dance  by  every  crystal  spring,  and  perch  on  every 
mountain  crest.  On  green  hill-slopes,  in  peaceful  agri- 
cultural valleys,  in  grassy  dells,  on  wooded  uplands, 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  207 

by  lake  and  stream,  by  road  and  river,  in  north,  south, 
east  and  west,  at  the  center  they  abound,  making  sport 
of  human  destiny  and  driving  man  mad  with  fear. 
They  are  on  roof,  ceiling,  and  fireplace.  They  are 
beside  him,  in  front  of  him,  over  him,  and  beneath 
him.  They  touch  him  at  every  point  of  his  life,  pre- 
side at  his  birth,  follow  him  to  the  grave  and  dance 
on  it  when  he  is  buried.  They  are  hard  masters, 
punishing  every  slip  that  he  makes  with  merciless 
severity,  and  are  the  cause  of  all  good  or  ill-fortune 
and  disease.  In  fact,  some  of  the  diseases  have  been 
deified,  and  in  Korea  smallpox  is  a  god  to  be  pro- 
pitiated. And  so,  believing  as  they  do  in  the  universal 
presence  of  spirits,  it  is  not  difficult  for  them  to  accept 
the  doctrines  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  God.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  vast  cult  is  hard  to  overcome,  inas- 
much as  it  is  upheld  by  countless  soothsayers  and 
sorceresses  who  practice  their  magic  rites  and  influ- 
ence not  only  on  the  common  people,  but  even  on 
royalty  itself. 

The  great  religion,  however,  is  Confucianism.  Ko- 
rean Confucianism  recognizes  four  domains  subject  to 
moral  control.  These  are  ( 1 )  the  personal  life  of  the 
individual;  (2)  the  family;  (3)  the  nation  or  state; 
f  4 )  the  universe  as  far  as  man  is  related  to  it.  The 
destiny  and  end  of  each  of  these  is  to  be  achieved  by 
certain  means.  The  individual  will  reach  his  destiny 
through  sincerity,  the  family  through  filial  piety,  the 
nation  through  orderly  administration,  and  the  world 
through  peace.     Sincerity,  filial  piety,  orderly  admin- 


208  ORIENTAL  1.1  PR— KOREA 

istration,  and  universal  peace  stand  related  in  a  vital 
progression.  The  Korean  Confucianist  argues  that 
without  sincerity  in  the  individual  there  can  be  no  filial 
piety  in  the  family,  and  without  filial  piety  in  the  fam- 
ily there  can  be  no  orderly  administration,  and  with- 
out orderly  administration  there  can  be  no  universal 
peace  :  and  so  we  see  that  this  age-long  insistence  on 
the  fact  that  man  is  a  moral  being  and  must  obey 
moral  laws,  prepares  them  to  sincerely  exemplify 
Christian  ethics  in  their  lives.  The  very  willingness 
of  the  Koreans  to  offer  costly  sacrifices  and  service  to 
pagan  gods,  becomes  transformed  into  a  free,  unre- 
served, full-hearted  love  to  God  and  service  to  their 
fellow  men.  And  yet  in  presenting  the  claims  of  the 
{ Christian  faith  to  them,  the  missionary  needs  great 
tact.  Many  of  the  tenderest  relations  of  life,  the 
deepest  emotions  of  the  human  heart  center  about  the 
Korean's  religious  life,  and  he  who  would  play  the 
tyrant  among  them,  attempting  to  force  the  human  soul 
against  its  cherished  beliefs,  would  find  himself  tilting 
with  a  straw  against  a  champion  cased  in  adamant. 
The  American  missionaries  as  a  body  have  been  dis- 
tinguished for  tact,  courtesy,  and  kindly  consideration 
in  all  their  dealings  with  the  religious  life  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  this  must  be  attributed  their  success  in 
Korea.  There  is  no  longer  any  independent  Methodist 
missionary  work  in  Korea.  In  1904,  foreseeing  the 
union  of  Japan  and  Korea,  the  General  Conference 
combined  the  two  countries  under  one  Episcopal  juris- 
diction. 


A  VANISHING  EMPIRE  209 

Thus  briefly  do  we  set  forth  the  influences  of  West- 
ern civilization  in  the  Orient,  but  it  can  not  yet  be 
determined  how  lasting  these  new  conditions  will  be. 
There  is  a  great  contrast  between  American  high  press- 
ure and  the  "calm  life  of  thought"  in  the  Hast,  and  the 
sage  may  have  spoken  prophetically  when  he  wrote : 

"The  East  bowed  low  in  solemn  thought, 
In    silent,    deep   disdain 
She  heard  the  legions  tin  nder  past, 
Then  plunged  in  thought   again." 

Progress  will  naturally  be  slow  in  Asia  because,  as 
\V.  T.  Stead  expresses  it,  "whole  populations  have 
learned  the  lesson  that  life  is  better  spent  in  the.  con- 
tented possession  of  a  few  things  than  in  the  mad  rush 
after  many."  Mr.  Stead  further  comments  that  'There 
is  a  wealth  which  arises  from  the  fewness  of  our 
wants,  as  well  as  a  wealth  that  is  measured  by  the 
amplitude  of  our  resources."  So  perhaps,  after  alb 
we  should  not  be  so  glad  for  the  Orient  that  she  has 
awakened  to  a  recognition  of  her  resources.  As  the 
author  minted  intimates;  "The  solemn  inquiry  still 
holds—'  what  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?'  "  p 


AUTHORSHIP  OF  CHAPTERS 


a  and  b,  Samuel  K.  Nweeya,  M.  D.,  in  Persia,  Land  of 
the  Magi. 

c,  Compiled  from  articles  in  Review  of  Reviews. 

d,  Samuel  K.  Nweeya,  M.  D. 

e,  James  Hunter. 

/,     Review  of  Reviews. 

g,  President  Howard  S.  Bliss  in  National  Geographic 
Magazine,  and  Airs.  C.  R.  Miller  in  World 
To-day. 

h,     G.  E.  White  in  World  To-day. 

i  and  /,   S.  M.  Zwemer  in  Arabia  the  Cradle  of  Islam. 

k,     Walter  Del  Mar  in  The  Romantic  East. 

I,      J.  Nisbit  in  Westminster  Review. 

m  and  n,   From  The  Book  'of  Ceylon. 

o,     Heber  Jones  in  Korea,  Its  People  and  Customs. 

p,     Samuel  McClintock  in  World  To-day. 


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